


Firefight My Way Into Your Heart

by Homeskillet



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Bottom Castiel, Brief homophobia, Businessman!Cas - Freeform, But Not Much, Card Games, Fire, Firefighter!Dean, Fluff, Light Bondage, M/M, Sex, Texting, Top Dean, Very Minor Character Death, Zachariah Being a Dick, chance encounter, mention of depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-02-22 02:54:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 40,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2491856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Homeskillet/pseuds/Homeskillet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sorry about the title but I put it there thinking I would change it but I never did. But this is a serious fic, I promise. </p><p>Let me explain....no there is too much. Let me sum up. </p><p>Dean, the heroic firefighter.<br/>Castiel, the dutiful businessman. </p><p>Cue an awkward encounter in a grocery store parking lot, a friendly lift home, a bag of dum dums, and a few nosy friends. Add them together and you get the story of how these two idiots find what they're looking for in each other. But don't worry, not everything is perfect. </p><p>Now, are you going to choose the fic in front of you, or the fic in front of me? </p><p>(Efforts are futile; it's the same fic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Awkward Encounters Are the Bane of Existence

**Author's Note:**

> Brownie points to whomever can tell me what movie I referenced in the summary. 
> 
> This is my first fic longer than 10,000 words so comments would be wonderful. I love getting feedback so don't be afraid to send criticism. I want to improve my writing and you can help me do that. Without further delay, here is Firefight My Way Into Your Heart.

It was a Monday in every sense of the word. Dean woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Late. Which was a wonder because the buzzing of his alarm was giving him a headache. He fumbled around blindly until he found that awful machine. He slammed the snooze button and dragged himself out of bed. Oh how he wished he could burrow back under the covers and continue his blissful unconsciousness.

He grumbled to himself as he trudged towards the bathroom. He stubbed his poor pinkie toe on the doorframe and cursed loudly while hopping up and down on one foot. Add that to the list of things that made today a complete and utter Monday. He limped to the shower to warm it up before stripping his pajama pants and climbing in. It only stayed warm for five minutes.

"What did I do to deserve this?" He asked his ceiling. No reply. He stepped out of the shower and got dressed, grabbed his phone, charger, and keys. He was off to work.

When he arrived at the station, he met Benny, his friend and coworker, as he was clocking in.

"Ready for our shift, brotha'?"

"Yea, ready for it to be over." Dean grumbled as he opened the door to the living quarters of the fire house. He heard Benny laugh behind him.

"Deanarooni!" An entirely too chipper voice called from the couch. Dean walked over and glared at Charlie, the house's technical genius before plopping down on the couch.

"How are you this peppy at five in the goddamned morning?" He asked her. She pushed her thick, black frame glasses farther up her nose and combed a piece of her fiery red hair behind her ear.

"Is it five? Hmm..hey, I'm off in half an hour." She smiled and continued doing whatever it is she does on her computer all day. Dean scoffed and swiped the remote off of the coffee table. He clicked on the news and promptly dozed off.

*

"Dean, wake up! We got a call!" Benny slapped Dean's feet off of the coffee table. Dean blinked twice and he was on his feet, following Benny to the lockers to suit up before heading out. Engine 17 was barreling down the street in a breakneck four minutes.

"Sounds like we got ourselves a small garage fire. Shouldn't take too long." Benny drawled from the seat in front of Dean. The shorter man sighed in relief. Dean honestly shouldn't have taken that nap.

In the five minutes it took the race the the location, Dean had cleared his mind and set himself into 'fireman mode'. Years of training had made him able to snap in and out of diverse mindsets. When Dean was in the zone, he was the best damned fireman in the station, and everyone knew it.

The firefighters on Engine 17; which included Benny in the passenger seat, Gabe driving, Meg seated behind Gabe, Jo stuck with the middle seat next to Meg, and Dean behind Benny, were all getting themselves ready for the call. This group was what the rest of the station referred to as 'The Dream Team'. These three boys and two girls worked like a well-oiled machine; assessing and calculating ways to control the fire while being as safe as possible. The garage fire was quickly squandered with no damage to the detached house.

The Dream Team gave ceremonial high-fives all around before they were loaded up and headed back to the station.

Once everyone was unloaded and stripped of their outer gear, Benny suggested a card game. They mumbled their agreement and started walking towards the housing section of the station.

"Not so fast, Winchester." Dean turned round to face the chief. "We need somebody to pick up a few things at the store. I guess it's your lucky day." The chief, Rufus, handed Dean a grocery list and his wallet. "Don't spend all my money." Rufus said as he turned and walked away

"No promises!" Dean called after him as he scanned over the list. W _hy do I always get stuck doing Rufus's errands?_ he thought to himself. He folded the scrap of paper and stashed it in his pocket before he walked out to his beast of a car and headed to the store.

*

Cas was startled awake by the blaring of sirens. He shot straight up in bed and looked around. When he realized he wasn't in immediate danger, he sighed and plopped back down on his pillows. He ran his fingers through his unruly dark hair. There was no way he was going to be able to fall asleep again. 

He peeled back his covers. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and and rubbed at his eyes before standing up and walking to the en suite bathroom where he took his morning shower.

Cas had nowhere he had to be for work today, so he planned on running some errands and coming back home to relax. He dressed in his favorite pair of dark blue jeans and a gray tee shirt. He slipped on his shoes, grabbed his keys, and headed out the door.

*

When he arrived at the store, there weren't too many cars in the parking lot. Cas checked his watch, noticing it was only 6:30 a.m. He checked to make sure his wallet was in his back pocket before meandering into the store. He needed milk, bread, cereal, sliced turkey, peanut butter, and some sort of candy. Probably M&Ms by the way he'd been feeling lately. He wondered briefly if he had replenished his box of condoms in his nightstand. Honestly, he couldn't even remember the last time he got laid, let alone how many condoms he had left. He added those to the list.

He grabbed his items, taking both M&Ms and Skittles; he deserved both of them, really. He checked out and headed towards his car, forgoing a cart and just carrying his bags. That might have been a mistake. Halfway to his car, the bottom of one of his bags broke and its contents were skewed on the ground.

"God dammit!" He cursed, setting his unbroken bag next to him. He crouched down to collect his grocery items. He noticed somebody else had crouched down in front of him to help. He saw his box of condoms in the other guy's hand and he was sure his face resembled a tomato. He placed his remaining items in the other bags and stood up, keeping his eyes trained on the ground. The other man stood as well and cleared his throat. Cas looked up at him and almost keeled over from embarrassment again. This was one smoking hot man. _Fire_ man if the shirt and cargo pants were anything to go by.

"Thanks." Cas mumbled as he grabbed the box and shoved into a plastic bag.

"No problem," came the reply. Cas could detect a hint of an accent in the way the man said 'problem'. Cas chanced another look at the fireman's face and was greeted with a beautiful smile. He would've been tempted to smile back had he not been as mortified. Cas ducked his head and hastily walked back to his car, throwing his groceries in the trunk and peeling out of the parking lot.

The fireman was left standing in the middle of the asphalt.

*

Dean arrived back at the station with one hell of a story. Of course, the only person cunning enough (and by 'cunning' he actually means 'has enough blackmail') to actually get him to tell this particular story, was Jo. And it was a completely confidential story time.

"So he just drove off after you gave him the condoms?" She said through fits of laughter.

"Yeah, it was...awkward, to say the least. I was just tryin' to help the guy out."

"Was he hot?" Jo inquired, having calmed down her laughter.

"Yes. I mean..no." He looked at Jo and was greeted with a smirk. "Oh my god, Jo. Fine. He was beautiful. Truly remarkable. He had the face of a god and the hair of Beyoncé. Is that what you want?"

"Don't go all sappy on me, Winchester, I just asked if he was hot." Jo punched him in the shoulder and brushed passed him. "Give me a warning next time you're gonna grow a vagina." She said over her shoulder. She turned and fully faced him. "Hey, I have to help my mom out at the bar tomorrow, you should swing by to save me from absolute boredom."

"I'll be there."

*

"Come on, Cassie, live a little."

"Balthazar, I'm not going to a bar with you tonight." Cas rolled his eyes and continued cleaning his kitchen.

"That's not the reply I wanted. You know, I'll get awful bored if I'm not kept busy. So bored...I might send a funny story a good friend told me about a hot fireman in a parking lot...."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, Cassie, but I would." Balthazar smirked, knowing he had just won the feud.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you about it." Castiel grumbled as he brushed passed Balthazar, down the hall towards his bedroom.

"What are you doing?" Balthazar called after him.

"Getting my coat!" Cas shouted back.

Balthazar smiled and basked in the triumph of getting his friend out on the town


	2. The Road to Getting Laid is Paved with Good Intentions

"So, Jo…you said by coming here I would, and I quote ‘save you from absolute boredom’. You have barely said two words to me." Jo shrugged and gave him a smile.

"Busy night?" She said with a cheeky grin and a wink. And with that, she went around the bar to serve the other patrons. Dean scoffed and looked down into his glass of whisky. _Last time I ever accept an invitation from Jo,_ he thought petulantly. The place was busy, even for a Tuesday night. Dean drained the last of his liquor and stood up. He needed to pee. He made his way through the bar to the restrooms uneventfully. When he came back, someone had taken his seat.

Dean walked towards the bar, and the closer he got, the more familiar the dark haired man who stole his stool became. Dean walked around to the other end of the bar to get a better look. _Yep. Definitely him_. He flagged down Jo and pointed him out.

"He  _is_ hot." Jo said, awestruck.

 

*

 

"I still don’t get why you dragged me to this place." Cas complained.

"Just live a little, Cassie. Ooh, look…there’s a spot at the bar."

Cas looked around the joint, it was pretty busy tonight. He followed Balthazar to the bar an ordered a beer. A few minutes later, and a couple sips down, he looked around the place again. Finally, his eyes fell on a dirty blond sitting at the opposite end of the bar. Castiel couldn’t put his finger on it, but the man looked familiar.

"Cassie, what are you staring at?" Balthazar said, snapping at Cas to get his attention. He tracked his friend’s gaze and his eyes landed on the blond man. "Mm, he’s quite handsome." Then it hit Cas. _Oh no, it’s the fireman from the parking lot…is it?_ Cas thought in a moment of realization. His face must have showed it because Balthazar was smirking at him.

"What?"

"I think I just found the fireman from your fable, Cassie." Balthazar grinned and threw Cas a wink. "Let’s play a game, shall we?" He grabbed Cas by the shoulder and led him to the attractive man.

"Balthazar, I hardly think this is necessary." Cas struggled halfheartedly as Balthazar dragged him over there.

"Haaaave you met Castiel?" Balthazar asked the man, winking at Cas again as he left to mingle with the other poor souls in the bar.

"Well…I’m Castiel." He said, taking a seat next to the fireman.

"So I gathered." And _oh my god_ he’s even prettier up close. He grinned at Cas, giving him a once over before resting his eyes on Castiel’s. "I’m Dean." He stuck out his hand and Cas smiled a little, grabbing the proffered hand and shaking it.

"What brings you to the Roadhouse on this fine Tuesday evening?" Dean asked.

"A…rather pushy…friend." Cas replied, trying to find Balthazar in the crowd. "Who seems to have made his escape." He added when he couldn’t spot his friend.

Dean and Cas chatted for a while at the bar, Dean getting looks from Jo that screamed blackmail. They talked about random things like favorite tv shows and which is the better pet, cats or dogs? They talked for what only seemed like minutes, but turned out to be hours. Cas looked down at his watch and was shocked to find out it was almost midnight.

"Wow. Time flies." He said to Dean, showing him the time.

Dean shrugged, "Time well spent." He flashed a grin and looked around. "And cats are obviously the superior pet." Cas said with a cheeky grin. Dean laughed and rubbed his hand over his face. "Hey, um…that friend of yours, is he even here? I haven’t seen him in a while." Cas looked around for a mop of light blond hair but couldn’t find one. He decided to check his phone.

 

_To: Cas 12:46a.m._

_Found a frisky young thing. Catch a ride with that dashing man you are flirting with ;)_

_From: Balthazar_

 

"It appears my friend has left me to my own devices." Cas returned his phone to his pocket and looked up at Dean.

"I could give you a lift if you want. It’s no trouble." Dean offered.

"Are you sure?" Cas asked.

"I mean, as long as you’re not a serial killer, we’ll be alright." Dean smiled and Cas smiled back.

"I can assure you, I am not a serial killer."

Dean laughed and stood up, placing the bill for his tab on the counter. He flagged down Jo and told her he was leaving.

 

*

 

Outside, the weather was still nice. Dean led Castiel to his baby, a ‘67 Chevy Impala.

"This is your car?" Cas asked, admiring the sleek body.

"Yep, she’s my pride and joy." Dean beamed. Cas nodded appreciatively and they both stepped in the car.

"So…where am I going?" Dean asked, putting his keys in the ignition and starting the car.

"I live in the apartment complex off of the highway. Take a left out of the parking lot and it shouldn’t be too hard to come by." Cas looked around the interior of the car. It was spotless. This man must really love the thing.

"Do you have a preference on music?" Dean asked. He was trying to be courteous, because he usually just put on rock and told the passenger to shut his cake hole.

"Anything but rap. I can’t stand rap." Castiel deadpanned. Dean laughed and put on some AC/DC.

The drive to Cas’s apartment was uneventful. Dean pulled up to the aforementioned complex and parked his car.

"Thanks for the ride, Dean." Cas said, looking over at the fireman.

"Don’t mention it. Helping people out is what I do." Dean smiled at Cas.

"Right, because you’re a fireman."

"Um….yeah. How did you know that?" Dean asked, confused.

"Oh, in the parking lot…you…um my bag broke and you helped me pick it up." Cas started blushing, having remembered exactly _what_ Dean had picked up for him. "You were wearing a firehouse shirt so I assumed…"

"Oh, right. Yeah I was running errands for the chief." Dean smiled but then his eyes grew wide. "Um, you know you don’t have to be like, embarrassed around me. We all need condoms every now and again."

And _did he really just fucking say that?!?_

"I’m not dating anyone." Cas blurted out.

"Okay." Dean said slowly. "Well…awkward moment aside…have a nice night, Cas. I hope I see you around." Cas nodded, opened his door, and walked into his apartment.

He walked into his room and ran a hand through his unruly dark hair. “That was something new.” He said to himself.

 

*

 

Dean waited until Cas was in the building before pulling out and heading back home. He let out a long breath when he pulled back into traffic.

"Damn."

==+==

Cas rose at an ungodly hour by the buzzing of his phone. He reached over and read the text.

_To: Cas 4:37a.m._

_How was last night Cassie? Spare no details ;)_

_From: Balthazar_

_To Balthazar: 4:40a.m._

_He gave me a ride like the good person you’re not. Thanks for abandoning me at the bar. And why are you up this early?_

_From: Cas_

 

He set his phone on the nightstand but didn’t have to wait long for a reply.

 

_To: Cas 4:42a.m._

_That’s it? Pathetic. And I was trying to get you laid. I think that constitutes as a good friend. And I’ve yet to go to bed ;)_

_From: Balthazar_

_To: Balthazar 4:42a.m._

_Ok, gross._

_From: Cas_

 

Cas looked at the clock. It was almost five in the morning. _Fuck that_  he thought as he burrowed back under the covers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are welcomed.


	3. He Hasn't Lost His Touch...Shut Up

The next day, Dean woke again to the insistent buzzing of his phone. He snatched it off the night stand dismissed the alarm.

In a much better mood than Monday, he arrived at the station. This time, Charlie was passed out with ‘The Lord of the Rings’ face down on her chest. Dean laughed to himself and walked to the sleeping quarters of the building. He sat down on the mattress and leaned his back against the wall.

He thought about last night. Mostly of Castiel. Dean had thought he was hot in the parking lot but last night he was downright sexy. Dean let his mind wander on Castiel’s mussed up dark hair. His slightly chapped lips. His captivating blue eyes. Dean was hooked. Soon his mind wandered, playing our scenarios with him and Cas. They started off innocent enough, but quickly turned into something a little more R rated.

Dean snapped open his eyes and looked around the room. A couple people were sleeping on their beds, he could hear a few others rustling around he kitchen.

If there was one thing Dean hated about being a fireman, it was the lack of privacy.

Dean slid off of the bed and walked towards the open bathroom. He went up to a sink and splashed some cold water on his face. He jumped when he heard Jo’s teasing voice.

"Have a late night?" She asked, walking over to stand next to Dean.

"I just gave him a lift, Jo."

She frowned. “That’s it? Really Winchester? Did you at least get his number?”

"No." Dean said dejectedly.

"Man, you’ve lost your touch." She clucked her tongue and patted him on the shoulder as she sauntered out of the bathroom.

"I have not." Dean protested weakly. Jo was already gone.

 

*

 

_”Mmmm, Dean. Feel so good.” Castiel whimpered from beneath the fireman. Dean leaned down and kissed Castiel for all he was worth. They came up breathless and Dean quickened his pace, snapping in and out of Castiel. “Cassss…you’re amazing.” Dean groaned. Cas was close, he could feel it. Dean kept driving into him, hitting that spot that drove Castiel insane. “Dean, I’m gonna….fuuuuck!”_

 

Cas shot straight up in bed, panting. There was a cooling mess in his boxers. He flopped back on the pillows and ran his hands through his slightly damp hair.

"Holy shit." Cas laid there for a while, going over the highlights of his dream.

He needed to see Dean again.

Immediately.

Castiel got out of bed and walked into the bathroom for a shower.

Cas sighed. How was he supposed to plan an accidental encounter if he didn’t know where to do it?

Castiel toweled off and got dressed for work. He hated working for his father at that vile corporation. The only reason he stayed was to keep his life stable (financially and personally). Although his father wasn't a physically intimidating man, he could make life hell for Castiel if his son walked away from him.

His older brothers were a whole different story. They loved working for the company. They rivaled each other in their divisions; always trying to out do the other.

Castiel just sat back and did his job.

Upon arriving at his office, Castiel noticed a thick stack of paperwork on his desk. He sighed dejectedly and sat down on his chair, steeling himself for a drawn out day of mundane paperwork.

At least the mindless work would give him time to let his thoughts wander. At around one o’clock, Castiel decided to go out for lunch. He had plowed through a little over half of the stack and he thought he deserved a little break.

He walked down the crowded street to a small cafe that served the best chicken noodle soup he’d ever had.

He took a window seat upon entering and decided to enjoy his lunch with a little people watching.

 

*

 

Dean was bored stiff. He decided to rope the Dream Team into playing cards with him. When all five of them were seated at the table, Dean laid out the rules.

"Ok, I’m gonna teach you guys a new game." Jo and Meg groaned, but Benny and Gabe were in good spirits.

"It’s called President vs. Scum."

"What the hell kinda name is that?" Meg asked.

"That’s what I thought when they told me yours." Dean shot back, never missing a beat. There were collective ‘oohs’ and Benny may or may not have given Dean a fist bump.

"What are we, second graders?" The table laughed and Dean quieted them down.

"The object of the game is to run out of cards. Ok, I’m going to deal the entire deck. You can look at your cards. We’ll go clockwise. You can only put cards down that are the same or a higher number of the previous card. So if I put down a three, Meg can put down a three or higher. If she puts down the same card as me, she skips Gabe. Everyone with me so far?"

Collective nods were given around the table.

"Ok. Now listen to this part ok? If you have two of the same card, it beats _any_ of the single cards. So if Benny laid down an ace, I could lay down a pair of threes to keep it going. Y’understand?"

"Dean, we’re not incompetent, we understand English." Gabe told him in an annoyed voice.

"Ok, and the same rule applies for triples and four of a kind. Twos and jokers clear the pile. If you have no card that is higher, or you don’t want to play a card, you can say pass. Those are the rules, let’s get this thing started."

Dean dealt the deck of cards out and they started playing. Dean ran out first, followed by Jo, then Benny, Gabe, and finally Meg.

"Ok, now that we’ve played a game, the real fun starts. Now we have rankings. It goes in the order you ran out of cards. I’m president, Jo is vice, Benny is speaker, Gabe is vice scum, and Meg is scum."

Collective laughter went around the table at Meg’s expense.

"Now here are the perks….and drawbacks, for some." Dean says, pointedly looking at Meg.

"Meg has to give me her two best cards. Twos and jokers are the best cards, then ace, king ect. I have to give her my _worst_ two cards. My VP here, gets Gabe’s single best card, and she gives him her single worst card. Since Benny is technically neutral, he keeps his hand. So, hand ‘em over princess." He says, sliding his worst cards her way. Gabe and Jo exchange cards and they start another game.

They played for _hours_ Jo quickly caught onto the game and was president or Vice President almost every time. Everyone eventually became president at one point in their abundance of games.

After about four hours of playing the game, they started to get hungry.

"How ‘bout Dean gets us some grub?" Benny offers, slapping Dean on the back.

"Why me? Why can’t you do it?"

"I don’ wanna." Benny drawls easily. Jo laughed and Dean fixed his glare on her.

"Fine, but she’s coming with me." He points at Jo.

"Whatever splits your banana, Dean-o." Gabe said. "Pick my up some candy while you’re at it."

Dean and Jo got into Dean’s car and headed to the roadhouse to pick up some burgers for the crew.

On their way out, Jo reminded him to buy some candy for Gabe. Dean sighed, but headed towards the grocery store anyway.

"I’ll just be a minute." Dean said.

"You expect me to just sit in here like a dog? I’m coming with you."

"Whatever." They walked into the store and headed to the candy aisle.

"What does he even want?" Dean asked her, scouring over the many types of candies.

"Just close your eyes and grab something, you won’t disappoint him." She looked around the aisle and saw a faintly familiar mop of dark hair down by the refrigerators. Then it clicked.

"Ohmygod, Dean. It’s dreamy condom man." Jo stage whispered to Dean. He turned around and looked in the direction she was pointing. He dropped the deluxe bag of dumdums and crouched down to pick them up.

"Go pay for these." He said and he thrust the bag into her arms. Before she could say anything, he was off in the direction of condom man.

 

*

 

After a pleasant lunch, Castiel returned to the office. He went through the rest of his paperwork fairly quick and decided he had enough time to pick up some apple juice from the store. He didn’t know why, but he had been craving apple juice all day.

He tidied up his desk and collected his things. He was out the door and on his way to the grocery store at an impressive 4:30 p.m.

At the store, he made his way to the refrigerators and searched for his craved apple juice. He heard footsteps coming close to him.

"Hey there, Cas." A friendly voice said. Cas looked over at Dean and smiled.

"Hello, Dean. I was just buying apple juice." Cas stated as he held up the bottle.

Dean have him a funny look. “You came to the store for _just_ apple juice?” Dean raised an eyebrow. "Is that not acceptable?" Cas smiled at Dean and gave him a challenging look. "Am I supposed to ask you permission to go shopping?"

Dean laughed and held up his hands. “Alright, alright. I’ll leave your shopping antics alone.”

Cas shut the door of the fridge and started walking towards the check out aisles, Dean quick to catch up to him. They met Jo at aisle four.

"Cas, this is Jo. A fellow firefighter."

"Nice to meet you." Cas said as he shook Jo’s hand.

"You too. I’ll meet you in the car, Dean." With that, she was off towards the doors.

This was it.

This is what Cas had wanted since he woke up. He was alone with Dean.

"So, Dean…there’s more than enough apple juice in here for two grown men to share while watching Netflix." Cas lifted an eyebrow and gave his best _hint hint_ look.

A look of excitement flashed in Dean’s eyes before it was clouded over with regret.

"That’d be great Cas, but my shift at the station isn’t over until five in the morning." Dean look looked genuinely sad. Cas immediately decided that he didn’t like that look on Dean’s face.

"That’s ok. If your free tomorrow, we could do it after I get off work." Dean smiled. “That’d be awesome, Cas. Um, does like seven work? I remember how to get to your place so I’ll see you then. I have to get back to the lot before Jo hot-wires my car and drives back herself.”

"Ok, see you tomorrow, Dean."


	4. Spiked Apple Juice Leads to America's Favorite Passtime

“What took ya so long?” Benny complained from the couch as Dean and Jo walked in.

“Yeah, we almost ordered Chinese.” Gabe added from the armchair.

“Quit your bitching and eat your food. We’re late because I was generous enough to buy _you_ candy, asshat.” Dean pointed at Gabe.

“Really?” Gabe asked hopefully.

Dean laughed and grabbed his box from the roadhouse along with a bottle of water from the fridge. He went and sat on the end of the couch and dug into his burger. After dinner, Dean went to the sleeping quarters and dozed off.

 

*

 

Cas watched as Dean exited the store. He just scored a date with Dean! He needed to get home and start cleaning. Pronto.

At his apartment, Castiel placed his apple juice in the fridge, then got started with the living room. He picked up all of the trash and threw various bottles of various drinks away. He put the throw blanket over the back of the couch and decided that room was good enough.

He walked into his kitchen and grimaced at the sight. Of course he put off doing the dishes for a week just so he could do them now. He started with those. After a grueling half an hour with crusty food bits and a lot of soap, he moved on to the counters. He cleared the end of his mail and other scrap pieces of paper. Then he swiped off all of the trash that littered the surface. Man, sometimes he could be a real slob. He wiped down the counters and decided this room was finished as well.

He walked past the living room and down the hallway, picking up a shirt here, a pair of socks there, and other various items that hadn’t made it to his laundry.  
At least he kept his bedroom mostly clean. All he needed to do was pick up the dirty clothes and remember to make the bed tomorrow morning.  
Now all he had left for today was vacuuming. He got that chore done relatively quickly.

He went back into the living room and sat down on the couch, flipping the TV on, but not really paying attention to it. After a bit, he started feeling hungry so he made himself a sandwich, cleaning his plate immediately afterwards.

 

*

 

“Dean.  _Dean_. Dean wake up!” Dean startled awake, turning to Jo.

“What? Is there a call?” Dean asked, throwing back the covers and preparing himself for a fire.

“Dean. Calm down, there’s no call. End of shift. Clock out and go home.”

“Oh. Thanks Jo.” He said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Don’t mention it.”

It took an embarrassingly long time to remember. Dean was already at home in his bed before it hit him. He was going to Cas’s later that night. Suddenly he didn’t feel so tired. He hopped out of bed and into the shower. After getting clean, he forwent replacing his contacts and put on his black framed glasses instead. He usually didn’t wear them in public, but around the house he had no objections towards them. He moseyed out into his bedroom and walked into his closet. What the  _fuck_  was he supposed to wear? Was this an actual date or had he been reading the situation entirely wrong? Maybe Cas was just being a good guy and wanted to hang out. As friends. And not as a date.

“Get yourself together, man” he said aloud to himself.

Maybe he’d just figure out his wardrobe later. He had all day, after all. After deciding his future self would make the executive decision on attire, he put on sweats and walked into the kitchen. He wanted some breakfast.  
After a rather large helping of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, he placed his bowl into the dishwasher and decided to do some research on new and developing fire equipment.

He pulled his laptop out of its bag and set it on the kitchen table. As much as he hated research as a whole, he found that if he enjoyed the subject he was researching, it was actually very interesting.

Hours passed with Dean sitting at his kitchen table going through articles and videos of everything from fire hoses to truck tires. When Dean looked up at the clock, he was shocked to find it was already six o’clock.

 _How the fuck did I miss lunch?_  He thought. At that moment his stomach asked the same question. He had an hour to get to Cas’s and he still wasn’t even dressed. He didn’t even have a shirt on, for Pete’s sake! He decided food was a more pressing matter and made himself a quick sandwich. After practically shoving that into his mouth, he walked down the hall into his bedroom.

“Well, Winchester….you’ve always worked best under pressure.” Dean said to himself.

He ended up wearing dark blue jeans and a black AC/DC shirt. He decided to throw on a green flannel as well. At ‘last looks’ (as he and Jo called the time you stare at yourself in the mirror before a date) he noticed he was still wearing his glasses. He exchanged those for contacts and he was out the door.

 

*

 

Castiel was a  _wreck_. He was vacuuming his carpet for the third time. He had dusted every available surface in his apartment. He even checked the goddamn smoke detectors! He took a deep breath and forced himself to snap out of it and stop stress cleaning. Instead, he took up pacing the living room, checking the clock every 30 seconds. He stormed into his bedroom and picked up his phone to call Dean and tell him he was sick or something.

_Wait a minute…I don’t even have his number!_

“C’mon, Castiel. You’re just overreacting. Tonight will be fine. Just you and a hot ass, motherfucking  _firefighter_  alone. Together. On the couch.” Great, just what he needed, more fantasies minutes before the guy got there. He heard a knock at his door, took a deep breath, and walked down the hallway.

He made sure his hair wasn’t in too much of a disarray. He ran his fingers through it and let his anxieties drop. Dean was here to hang out and have fun, it wasn’t such a big deal. Another knock made him realize he was just staring at himself in the mirror.

He swung the door open, “Sorry, I was just…” The rest of his sentence was lost when he saw Dean standing there. Could his eyes possibly be that green? Cas fumbled a little, but caught up with himself.  
“Uh….come in.” Dean smiled and Cas couldn’t help but smile back.

“So,” Dean said, walking into Cas’s living room, “got any apple juice left for me?” Cas laughed and smiled at the ground.

“Yes, Dean, I’ve saved some for us.” They walked into the kitchen and Dean leaned on the island in the center of the room while Cas grabbed glasses and set them near Dean’s hands.

“So do you  _really_  want apple juice or would you prefer something more….spirituous? How about…my signature Apple Pie #2 cocktail?”

“That sounds awesome, Cas. I love pie.”

Cas prepared the drinks and he led Dean to the living room where they sat on the couch. 

Dean took a sip of his drink. “Wow. I never thought apple juice could taste so good.” He smiled and took another sip.

Cas smiled at the compliment and took a sip of his own cocktail. In all honesty, he just needed a drink to calm his nerves. He set his glass on the coffee table and stood up. He motioned for Dean to do the same. Cas walked over to a bookshelf next to the TV. The thing was chocked full of movies.

“Holy shit, dude. You have like every badass movie….ever.” Dean stared wide-eyed at the collection.

“Take your pick. Or, if you want, I have Netflix.”

Dean turned to him with a completely childlike expression. “Can I live here?” Cas laughed.

Dean focused his attention back on the movies. “Oh my God, you’re killin’ me here, Cas. Woah, wait..is this,” he pulled out two slightly worn DVD cases from the shelf, “you have Batman AND The Princess Bride? Ok, we’re officially best friends.”

“So I’m assuming you approve of my taste in movies?” Cas said with a smug grin.  
“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

 

They were both sitting half a foot from each other on the couch, feet propped on the coffee table, the third round of cocktails down. They had already blown through the Batman movie. Now, a booing old lady was reprimanding Queen Buttercup on screen. They had both been quoting every other line, of course. Cas was really glad he didn’t wimp out of this…date? Was it a date? Oh, he hoped it was.

By the time the main cast was riding off in the sunset on four white horses, somehow they had managed to close that six-inch gap between them. As the credits rolled, Dean looked over at Cas and he felt like Dean was staring right through him.

“Um, you’ve got a…” Dean motioned to a spot near Cas’s eye. Cas wiped at it but he didn’t manage to swipe away the eyelash that was stuck to his cheek. “Let me.” Dean held Cas’s face in his hands and gently swiped the eyelash away.

“Got it.” Dean said, just above a whisper.

Cas looked down at Dean’s lips and slowly back up to his eyes.

Dean leaned in and captured Cas’s lips with his own. It was gentle at first, but when Dean could tell Cas wanted it just as much as he did, he decided to explore a little further. 

Dean slid his hands down to Cas’s sides as Cas placed a hand on Dean’s hip as well as one on the back of his neck. Dean kissed Cas with everything in him. Cas let out a noise between a groan and a whimper. As if that were a cue, Dean shifted them both so Cas was sitting in his lap. 

If Cas wasn’t turned on by then, the friction between them was enough to get him there. Dean’s hands grabbed Cas’s ass as they explored each other’s mouths. When they came up for air, they were both panting. 

“Holy shit, Cas.” Dean sighed before latching his lips onto Cas’s neck. Cas tilted his head to allow Dean more skin to discover with his tongue. Dean took the offer enthusiastically and Castiel was _definitely_ going to have to work from home tomorrow. 

Dean returned his lips to Cas’s and Cas instinctively started rocking his hips down onto Dean’s. He could feel the blond man’s erection pressed against his own. 

Dean grabbed at the hem of Cas’s t-shirt until Cas took the hint that he wanted it off. The dark haired man leaned back the obliged Dean, exposing more beautiful skin for Dean to explore with his hands and tongue. 

“Mmm…Dean. What do you say we move this party to my bed?”

“I say….why are we still…on the couch?” He asked between kisses. At that, Dean picked Cas up and started walking blindly. Cas was caught off guard but started directing Dean towards his bedroom. They made it in one piece, although they might have a few bruises here and there. Castiel was sure he had more hickeys strewn across his torso as well. Dean dropped Cas on the bed and quickly covered him with his body. 

“Why am I the only one without a shirt?” Cas asked, already in the process of stripping Dean of his flannel. Dean laughed and kneeled up on the bed, removing his shirt deliberately very, very slowly. 

“You ass.” Cas said with a grin. Dean smiled and Cas pulled him down with a hand on the back of his neck. Cas’s hands wandered the expanse of new skin. Dean’s hand was slowly sliding from Cas’s hip to the fly of his jeans. 

“Is this ok?” He asked. Cas nodded and continued kissing Dean.

The taller man’s deft fingers quickly undid the button and fly of Cas’s jeans. Dean sat back on his heels and pulled Cas’s jeans down. His erection clearly showed as a tent in Castiel’s gray boxers. Dean could feel himself harden a little more of that were at all possible. Cas sat up on his elbows and looked at Dean. 

“Are you just gonna sit there or are you gonna do something?” Cas asked with a smug grin. Dean swooped down and captured Cas’s lips in a deep kiss as he started palming Cas’s cock. Cas moaned under him and bucked up into Dean’s hand. Cas blindly grabbed around for Dean’s fly until he found it and immediately popped the button. Dean smiled into their kiss and helped Cas shimmy off the offensive clothing. 

Without wasting another second, Dean pulled down Cas’s boxers and took Cas into his mouth. 

“Holy shit, Dean,” Cas moaned, caught a little off guard. Dean was certainly keeping him on his toes tonight. Cas grabbed at Dean’s hair as he bobbed up and down on him. Dean moaned around Cas and the shorter man bucked up into Dean’s mouth. Dean pulled off with a wet pop. 

“Got any lube?” He asked huskily.

Cas nodded and pointed towards the nightstand. “There are some condoms in there too.” Saying that instantly brought Cas back to the parking lot where he and Dean had first ‘met’. Dean must have recognized the box because he was smiling at Cas when he returned with the items. 

“Good thing you stocked up, huh?” Cas blushed and ducked his head.

“Hey, don’t be like that.” Dean said, he placed a gentle kiss to Cas’s lips before pulling back and positioning Cas how he wanted him.

“Hold your legs up.” He commanded, slicking his fingers up. Cas obeyed and Dean leaned down for another searing kiss. He circled his finger around Cas’s hole before pushing in slowly. Soon, Dean was able to move his finger in and out with ease. Dean leaned down for a deep kiss while he added another finger. Cas moaned into Dean’s mouth. 

Dean broke the kiss and stared into Castiel’s eyes. “You’re gonna feel so good wrapped around my cock.” Dean whispered, scissoring his fingers. Cas whimpered and fucked himself on Dean’s fingers. Dean felt around for that special spot he knew would drive any man mad with pleasure. Cas arched off of the bed with a noisy groan. 

“Right there, Dean. Holy fuck, that feels good.” Dean added a third finger and stretched Cas open for him. Dean was taking his time, making sure everything felt as good as possible for Cas.   
“Dean, if you don’t start fucking me right now I will be forced to lay you down and ride you for all you’re worth.”

Although it was truly tempting, Dean took the hint and removed his fingers. He rolled on the condom with ease and stroked his neglected cock with a lubed hand. 

He lined up with Cas’s entrance and slowly pushed in, watching Cas’s face as he did so. He was absolutely breathtaking. His hair was a complete mess, his lips were bruised and he had hickeys blooming everywhere. Once Dean was fully sheathed he took a moment to lean down and kiss Cas. Dean bracketed Cas’s head with his forearms and started slowly pulling out and pushing back in. When he felt Cas was getting impatient, he picked up his pace, quickly snapping in and out of Cas.

“Holy fuck Cas, you feel amazing.”

He sat back on his heels and grabbed Cas’s hips to drag him closer. He kept thrusting in and out of Cas while his hand reached down and started jacking Cas in time with his thrusts. 

“Deeeaaaaannn.” Cas moaned wantonly. Dean picked up the pace and just as he thought Cas was about to loose it, he backed down, taking up a relaxed pace. 

“You’re so beautiful like this, Cas. All sexy and desperate. You look amazing stretched around my cock.”

“Aren’t you a charmer.” Cas said breathlessly. They both smiled and Dean abruptly slammed back into Cas. The dark haired man groaned and reached out for Dean’s hand. Once he had a hold of it, he shifted slightly. 

“Harder.” Castiel commanded. Dean gave a devilish smile and obliged Cas. He slammed into him which each thrust, bringing both of them closer to their climax. 

Dean changed the angle of his hips slightly and Cas felt like something had ignited inside him. His back arched up off the bed as Dean kept hammering into his prostate. 

“Right fucking there Dean! Don’t stop, don’t fucking stop!” A few more thrusts and Cas was gone, clenching around Dean and painting his own chest and Dean’s hand with cum. Dean wasn’t too far behind him, coming with a few more thrusts. After milking all of it out of Cas, Dean flopped down on top of him, apathetic towards the mess between their bodies.

“Holy shit. That was awesome.” Dean said. He gently pulled out of Cas, removing the condom and throwing it in the trash can next to the bed. They both laid side by side on their backs. 

“Agreed.” He looked at the clock on the nightstand. It read 12:54. “Time for a shower?” Cas suggested. “You know, as soon as my bones don’t feel like jello.” Dean chuckled and agreed. About five minutes later they were under the warm spray of the shower, trading slow kisses and washing each other’s bodies. 

They dried off and Cas led Dean back to bed, where they made out until they were both too tired to do anything but sleep. 


	5. Unlimited Texting Is the Only Way to Live

Cas woke up with a smile on his face. He reached out for Dean but his hand only came in contact with cool sheets. He slowly opened his eyes to find Dean's side of the bed empty.

 

Before he could jump to any conclusions, he found a note on the pillow.

  
  _Cas,_  
 _My shift started at 5 this morning and I didn’t want to wake you up. Text me when you read this ;)_  
 _-Dean_

  
 _Text him? I don’t even have his number._  It took Cas a moment before he realized Dean must have programmed it in his phone before he left. 

  
Like a kid on Christmas Day, Cas ripped back the sheets and searched around for his phone. He found it in the front pocket of his jeans. He walked back to his bed and sat down before searching through his contacts for Dean’s number. 

  
Cas laughed when he found Dean’s contact. 

  
 _To: Sexy Fireman 8:07a.m._  
 _I’ll have to say that’s not my favorite way to wake up but I guess I can cope now that I have your number ;)_  
 _P.S. ‘Sexy Fireman’? Really?_  
 _From: Cas_

  
_To: Cas 8:09 a.m._  
 _Duty calls. And I bet you laughed when you found my contact._  
 _From: Sexy Fireman_

  
Cas smiled like an idiot at his phone. 

  
 _To: Sexy Fireman 8:10a.m._  
 _When do you get off work? Last night was not nearly enough. ;)_  
 _From: Cas_

  
_To Cas: 8:10a.m._  
 _Not until 5 a.m. Do you think you’ll be awake then?_  
 _From: Sexy Fireman_

  
_To: Sexy Fireman 8:11a.m._  
 _I wouldn’t mind being woken up. ;) I still have some apple juice we need to finish._  
 _From: Cas_

  
_To Cas: 8:13a.m._  
 _Sounds like a date. g2g there’s a call. See you soon._  
 _From: Sexy Fireman_

  
_To: Sexy Fireman 8:13a.m._  
 _Stay safe!_  
 _From: Cas_

 

  
*

 

  
With the blaze squandered, the Dream Team decided to pick up a late lunch. They ordered their regulars from the roadhouse and took it back to the station. They decided to use two decks of cards and play a five person game of War. By the time they were all finished eating, Meg and Jo had practically everyone’s cards. Poor Gabe was on his last three while Benny and Dean only had about ten each. 

  
After another ten minutes, Jo and Meg called it a tie after gaining the boys’ cards. 

  
It was only three o’clock so Dean decided to text Cas. He quietly made his exit to the back stairwell. 

  
 _To: Cas 3:17p.m._  
 _Is now a good time?_  
 _From: Sexy Fireman_

  
_To: Sexy Fireman 3:27p.m._  
 _Around lunch would’ve been better but I’ll take what I can get._  
 _From: Cas_

  
_To: Cas 3:28p.m._  
 _Noted. Are you at work?_  
 _From: Sexy Fireman_

  
_To: Sexy Fireman 3:29p.m._  
 _Due to the hickeys you gave me last night, I chose to work from home. Not that I’m complaining. ;)_  
 _From: Cas_

  
_To: Cas 3:30p.m._  
 _I would say I’m sorry, but I must not tell lies._  
 _From: Sexy Fireman_

  
_To: Sexy Fireman 3:31p.m._  
 _Did you just quote Harry Potter to me?_  
 _From: Cas_

  
_To: Cas 3:32p.m._  
 _Damn right I did. So are we still on for tonight?_  
 _From: Sexy Fireman_

  
_To: Sexy Fireman 3:33p.m._  
 _Definitely. ;)_  
 _From: Cas_

  
“Who are you texting?”

  
“JESUS!! Jo! What the hell are you sneaking up on me for?”

  
A wry grin crossed her lips. “You were texting condom guy, weren’t you?” She folded her arms over her chest and smirked. She knew it. She always seemed to know everything.

   
Dean sighed. “Would you please stop calling him that? His name’s Cas.

  
“Fine, I’ll stop calling him condom guy.” She smiled and punched his arm. “The team’s starting to notice your absence, so unless you want Meg catching you giggling at your phone like a school girl, I suggest you make an appearance.” Jo raised her eyebrows and turned on her heel to join the Dream Team in a lazy afternoon of channel surfing. 

  
Dean walked in a moment later but didn’t join them on the couch. He decided to take a nap, he only got about three hours of sleep last night, after all. When he laid down on his cot, he realized how tired he actually was. Within minutes he was out like a light. 

 

  
*

 

  
Cas tried to wait up for Dean, he really did, but he just couldn’t keep his eyes open past two a.m. 

  
He was startled awake when he heard a knock on the door. He was tangled in a blanket on the couch with drool running onto the cushion. He wiped his face and ungracefully untangled himself from the blanket. He tried fixing his hair as much as he could, but it was no use. He opened the door and yawned loudly. When he recovered, he was met with a soft smile on Dean’s lips. Cas smiled back. 

  
“Hey sleepyhead,” Dean leaned down and kissed him, “mind if I come in?”

  
Cas smiled and opened the door wider for Dean. They both walked into the living room and Dean sat on the couch. Cas laid down with his head in Dean’s lap. He looked up into Dean’s bright green eyes. 

  
“You have beautiful eyes.” Cas said. Dean smiled and ran his fingers through Cas’s hair. 

  
“I was about to say the same thing,” he said softly. Cas yawned again and Dean scrunched his eyebrows together. 

  
“How about we go bed and I wake you up in a _much_ better way than a knock on the door.” Cas grinned and they made their way to the bedroom with substantially less bruises than last time. Dean slipped off his shoes, jacket, and jeans and followed Cas under the covers. 

  
When they were settled, Cas had his head resting on Dean’s chest and an arm slung over his hips. Dean kissed the top of Cas’s head. He usually didn’t fall into relationships so easily, but with Cas, it felt normal. It felt right, even. At least, Dean hoped they were in an actual relationship. He’d have to bring up later. Much later. 

  
“I tried to wait up, you know,” Cas said into Dean’s shirt, “but I guess I zonked out.” Dean smiled and kissed the top of his head again.

   
“It’s ok. I’m here now, and we’ll have all day tomorrow to make up for lost time.” Cas lifted his head and kissed Dean on the lips. 

  
“I’ll see to it that we _don’t_ leave this bed until the afternoon. You’re lucky I don’t work Fridays.” And with that, Cas returned to his spot in Dean’s chest and fell asleep. 

 

  
*

 

  
Dean didn’t so much as sleep as he did drift in and out of consciousness. He woke up a total of four times before 8:30; each time they were in a different position. Dean decided Cas could use a proper wake up call. 

  
Dean looked over at Cas. He was truly breathtaking. His hair was hopelessly disarrayed in the sexiest way. In that moment, Cas was on his back, the covers only covering just above his navel. Dean grinned; Cas was going to love waking up with Dean. 

  
The fireman started with feather light kisses to Cas’s collar bone. From there, he traveled down and took one of Cas’s nipples into his mouth. Cas reacted slightly but remained asleep. Dean moved over to the other one, flicking out his tongue to make it stand upright. Cas let out a breathy sigh, but still remained asleep. 

  
Dean moved farther from there, stopping to dip his tongue into Cas’s navel before drawing back the covers a little more. Cas was already half hard, it was morning, after all. Dean mouthed around Cas’s clothed cock, enticing Cas to come out of dreamland and into a dreamy session of morning sex. 

  
Cas stirred slightly when Dean ran his hand up Cas’s leg. The taller man pulled gently at Cas’s boxers, sliding them down inch by inch. When Cas’s cock was freed, Dean grinned and licked a stripe up the underside of it. When he reached the top, Dean took the first few inches into his mouth. 

  
Cas groaned and his hands went to Dean’s hair. 

  
“What’re ya doin’ down there?” Cas asked huskily, reveling in the feel of Dean’s mouth around him first thing in the morning. 

  
Since Dean knew Cas was awake, he decided to take things a little faster. He swallowed Cas all the way down to the hilt, causing Cas to cry out in pleasure. He’d forgotten how Dean kept him on his toes. His hand tightened in Dean’s dirty blond hair. 

  
“Oh, Dean, you feel amazing like this.” In response, Dean moaned, causing delicious vibrations to sweep through Cas. 

  
Dean hollowed his cheeks and picked up the pace, bobbing up and down with Cas’s encouragement.

   
“Holy, shit Deeeaaaannn. I’m gonna,” that was only warning Dean got before Cas was spilling down his throat. Dean milked him through it, catching every last bit of come on his tongue. Dean climbed up Cas’s body and gave him a searing kiss. Cas could taste himself on Dean’s lips and boy, did he wish his recuperation time was faster. 

  
“Mmmm, you were right, Dean. That was a _much_ better way to wake up.” They grinned at each other and continued trading slow kisses on the bed. When Cas wasn’t as sensitive, he rolled Dean onto his back and seated himself in Dean’s lap. 

  
“We’ve got a long time until we leave these sheets, what do you want to start with?” Cas asked roughly, a coy smile upon his lips. “Would you rather have me ride you until you come deep inside me, or should you fuck me so hard I can’t sit right for a week?” Cas whispered into Dean’s ear, licking the shell before removing Dean’s shirt and starting a hickey on his collar bone. Dean groaned and cursed Cas’s name. 

  
“How about we start with the first suggestion and go from there,” came a breathless reply from Dean. 

  
Cas grinned and leaned down for a scorching kiss. He deliberately moved his hips up and down Dean’s clothed erection. A moan escaped Dean’s lips at the increased friction. 

  
Cas took a break from Dean’s mouth to removed a certain piece of offensive clothing. Once Dean’s cock was free, Cas took it in his hand and started a slow pace. It was just slow enough to keep Dean from going over the edge. 

  
Once again Cas leaned down to whisper in Dean’s ear. 

  
“Do you wanna open me up or would your prefer to watch?” Cas asked huskily. Dean let out a breathy sigh. 

  
“Jesus, Cas, you’re gonna be the death of me.”

  
“Oh, but what a way to go.” Cas stopped his slow stroking and reached for the lube on the nightstand. He opened the cap and slicked his fingers up. Slowly, he pushed in his index finger. After rather quickly adjusting to that, he slid in another finger, groaning for added affect. He looked down at Dean and was pleased to find his lover entranced in his disappearing fingers. 

  
Dean felt Cas staring at him and looked straight into those stunning blue eyes. There was only a small ring of blue around Cas’s giant pupils, but they were truly the most captivating things Dean had ever seen. 

  
He was pulled out of his revere when Cas added a third digit. 

  
“Cas,” Dean said breathlessly, “you’re gorgeous like this, you’re always gorgeous.” Dean took Cas’s newly hardened length in his hand. Cas gasped at the sudden contact. 

  
Suddenly, Cas removed his fingers and retrieved a condom.

   
“I’m ready,” he said before ripping it open and rolling it onto Dean’s swollen dick. He didn’t even give Dean time to process it before sinking down on him. 

  
Both men groaned at the delectable friction. 

  
“Oh my god, Cas. You’re amazing.” Dean growled, gently grabbing a fistful of Cas’s hair and leading him to his mouth. 

  
After a moment, Cas started rolling his hips. He pulled back slightly to look at Dean’s face. His eyes were closed, his mouth was slightly parted, and his hair was far messier than Cas had ever seen it.   
Cas could really get used to this. 

  
Dean flicked open his eyes to find Cas staring at him once again. 

  
“I’d find your staring weird if the feeling wasn’t so damn mutual.” Dean said, reaching a hand between them to stroke Cas slowly to match their pace. Cas grinned and placed his hands on Dean’s shoulders. Cas crescendoed their pace wonderfully, Dean’s hand gave up trying to mimic Cas’s style. Instead, he placed his hands on Cas’s hipbones, running circles with his thumbs over the sharp jut. He was going to have to mark those up.

Soon. 

  
Cas regained Dean’s attention to the more…pressing matter(s) by snapping his hips down onto Dean. The fireman shouted out in pleasure while Cas groaned as he came oh so close to finding his sweet spot. 

  
Cas leaned back, placing his hands behind him. By changing his angle, he was able to stimulate his prostate with every thrust. Dean was quick to aid by thrusting into Cas. 

  
Cas was expertly put on display for Dean with this position. His head was thrown back in ecstasy, his hair was wild, his skin was flushed and beautiful. Cas’s own thrusts were starting to become erratic, telling Dean that he was close; Dean was right behind him. Cas was beating him in number of orgasms this morning, after all. 

  
Cas changed his position one last time, crowding his body against Dean, shooting sparks of pleasure everywhere for both men. 

  
Dean came first with a long, noisy groan. Cas soon followed him, making an utter mess between them. He sunk, boneless on Dean’s chest. 

  
After their breathing returned to mostly normal, Cas let out a huff of laughter. 

  
“That was fun,” Cas said into Dean’s shoulder, “we should definitely do it again sometime.” 

  
Dean laughed and ran his fingers up and down Cas’s back. 

  
“We have all day, baby.” He said in response. 

  
Cas smiled at the pet name. He’d have to ask Dean where their relationship stood, but that was a question for way, _way_ in the future. Maybe around lunch. 

  
Cas gently pulled himself off of Dean, standing on shaky legs to grab a washcloth. Dean removed the condom and threw it in the strategically placed waste bin. 

  
Cas walked back in and started cleaning up Dean’s chest. He looked over at the clock. 12:07. Cas smiled to himself. 

  
“You hungry?” Cas asked, striding over to the bathroom to start a shower. 

  
“Only always.” Dean answered. The real question was _what_ he was hungry for. As soon as he heard the stream of water, he jumped out of bed and joined Cas under the spray. 


	6. The Sick and the Living

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am ashamed to say it's been over a month. I don't know where the time went but I've finally finished chapter six. Kudos and comments are very appreciated.

"What sounds good to you?" Cas asked, rummaging through the cabinets.

"Well..."

"And don't say me!" Cas interjected, a grin on his face.

Dean was very _talkative_ in their shower earlier. Dean mock-sighed and slumped his shoulders dramatically.

"I _guess_ pancakes sound good," he said.

"Don't go all moody teenager on me. I'll make the pancakes, you can scramble us up some eggs." Cas told him, pointing for good measure. They both smiled and Dean pecked Cas on the cheek before striding over to the fridge for some eggs.

After their food was gone, they decided to search through Netflix, landing on Parks & Recreation.They sat with their thighs touching and their hands woven together. Cas rested his head on Dean's shoulder as they continued to watch the show.

"Hey Dean," Cas called softly for his attention.

"Yeah," he replied, taking his eyes off the screen and focusing on Cas.

"Where do we stand? As in our relationship? Is it....are we..." Cas had trouble wording his question. Dean shifted on the couch so they were facing each other. Cas took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Are we exclusive?" He asked, opening a single eye to judge Dean's reaction.

"I fucking hope so," Dean said. They both broke out in smiles before Cas leaned forward and kissed Dean.

"Wait, does this mean I have to break up with my other two boyfriends because that might be a deal breaker," Dean asked teasingly. Cas punched him in the arm.

"Ouch!" Dean rubbed his bicep.

"Don't ask stupid questions."

 

•

 

They enjoyed the rest of the day almost constantly touching, stealing kisses and just being adorable.

But, all good things must come to an end.

At four the next morning, Dean had to get up and leave. They shared a long hug and a kiss before Dean had to force himself to go to work.

 

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 9:07a.m._

_Are you busy?_

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 9:10 a.m._

_Not unless you count channel surfing busy_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 9:11 a.m._

_Call me_

_From: Cas_

 

Dean stood up and walked to the back stairwell. Cas picked up almost immediately.

"Hey," Dean said, unsure of where this conversation was headed.

 _"Hello, Dean. I promise nothing's wrong I just wanted to...AH-choo!"_ Dean flinched slightly at the unexpected sneeze.

"Bless you."

 _"Thanks. Don't know where that...ah-CHOO!...came from,"_ Cas finished his sentence sheepishly. Dean chuckled.

"You gettin' sick?" Dean asked, a little worried.

 _"No, I think we just kicked up a lot of dust around here yesterday."_ Dean smiled at the memories and heard a muffled sneeze on the other line.

"Are you sure it's that? I think you should..." Dean was interrupted by the blaring siren signaling a call.

"Shit...I gotta go Cas, keep yourself healthy," he said hastily, running down the stairs to get to the engine bay.

 _"I'll try. You stay safe, call me later."_ They hung up and Dean dressed himself for the fire.

 

•

 

Dean dropped on the couch at about three that afternoon. That was one long ass, pain in the neck fire to squander. Dean looked down at his grimy hands and decided to take a shower. Once he was clean and dressed in a fresh uniform, he called Cas back.

 _"Dean,"_ Cas said, his voice a little hoarse.

"Hey, Cas. Sorry it took so long, it was a pretty big fire."

 _"It's fine, as long as you're not hurt."_ Dean was a little put off by how rough Cas's voice sounded. Then he heard coughing before Cas spoke again.

 _"I'm afraid I wasn't able to hold up my end of the deal. I wouldn't consider myself very healthy."_ He punctuated that statement by going into a coughing fit.

"You gonna live?" Dean asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow even though Cas couldn't see it.

_"I hope so."_

"Do you want me to come over after my shift? I could bring a box of tissues make you some soup." Dean offered.

_"I don't know, I don't want to get you sick. And I don't think you'd want to see me like this."_

"Don't say that. I'll always want to see you. As for getting me sick, I don't think it'll work since we spent an entire day wrapped around each other and I'm perfectly fine. I'm actually probably the one who got you sick."

 _"Thanks, asshole."_ Cas deadpanned.

"You're a cranky sick person, aren't you?" Dean asked, a smirk on his face.

_"Shut up. And yes, I would enjoy your company. Who knows, maybe I'll get over whatever it is I have before you get here."_

That was not the case. If anything, he'd gotten worse.

He had parked himself on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, cuddling a box of tissues. He was half watching the cartoon on the TV. Courage the Cowardly Dog is one trippy show when you're sick. Cas had also been falling in and out of consciousness, only catching small chunks of the show. He heard a knock on the door and groaned loudly.

"I can hear you from in the hallway, Cas," Dean said, huffing a small laugh. He could hear shuffling inside and Cas swung the door open, a drawn out look on his face. Dean took pity on Cas, seeing him like this. His nose was red and his eyes looked very tired. He was wrapped in a blanket wearing baggy sweats and a loose shirt.

"I can see you haven't gotten over whatever this is yet," Dean said, closing the door behind him as he entered the apartment. Cas gave him the finger as he walked back to his nest on the couch. Dean laughed and followed him into the living room. Cas really was a cranky sick person.

"Is this Courage the Cowardly Dog?" Dean inquired. Cas nodded his head and coughed a few times. Dean ran a soothing hand through his hair when he walked behind the couch.

"Are you hungry?"

"A little."

"How about some chicken noodle soup?" When the soup was finished, Dean brought a steaming bowl to Cas. His boyfriend accepted it and tried his best to eat all of it but he came up short.

"I'm sorry, Dean. That's as much as I can keep down." Dean took the bowl and set in on the end table. When he sat on the end of the couch, Cas laid down with his head in Dean's lap. Cas decided it was a good place for a nap. Dean didn't complain, he just ran his fingers soothingly through Cas's hair, pulling him into sleep.

When Cas woke again, he didn't know where he was. It took a few moments but he realized he was sleeping in his bed. Which was odd, because the last thing he remembered was falling asleep on the couch. He rolled over to find Dean on his laptop.

"Did you carry me in here?"

"Maybe," Dean didn't look up from his computer, typing in something on a word document. Cas rolled his eyes.

"I can't believe you carried me here. I can't believe I didn't wake up. Did you drug me or something? My head hurts." Cas said in rapid succession, not giving Dean a chance to answer. He coughed a few times, remembering why Dean had to carry him to his bed in the first place. Dean just smiled and looked at his puzzled boyfriend.

"I didn't drug you, Cas. But it would be a good idea to take _something_ for your cold. Anyway, I just carried you. I'm a fireman, it's kinda what I do. Believe it or not you are far from the heaviest person I've had to pick up and move." Cas had a look on his face like he was truly contemplating whether or not Dean was telling the truth, he gave up though, and flung back the covers before he got out of bed.

"Woah, I'm kinda dizzy." Cas said. He reached out for the bed to stabilize himself before walking unsteadily into the bathroom.

"Walk much or just read about it?" Dean called after him. Cas flipped him the bird before closing the door.

"So now we close doors?" Dean teased.

"You can't see it, but the middle finger's up Dean."

 

•

 

Cas was grumpy as the day went on, but Dean couldn't keep track of how many times he found it adorable. Dean checked the time and was surprised to see it was five in the afternoon already.

"Shit, Cas, I promised Charlie I'd grab dinner with her tonight."

"Who's Charlie?"

"She works at the station. She's the tech lady. Do you think you'll be able to survive until Monday without me?"

"That's a whole entire day and a half." Cas mock whined. He gave a half smile. "You better get your shoes on. You wouldn't want to be late for your date," Cas said, Dean stood up and pulled Cas with him. The shorter man wrapped his arms around Dean in a hug.

"It's not a date, you ass." Dean replied, peppering a kiss to his boyfriend's disheveled hair. Cas squeezed one last time before letting go.

"Have fun, don't get too drunk," Cas advised him. Dean laughed and said he wouldn't before heading out the door.

 

•

 

Charlie always had a knack for prying information from Dean without him even knowing it. Like tonight, how she not only got him to admit he had a boyfriend, but also what his name was. He even offered information about him such as hair and eye color. Dean was practically gushing about him. He stopped to think about what he was saying when he caught a glint in Charlie's eyes.

"How the hell do you do it?" He asked, shaking his head disbelievingly.

"Do what?" She asked, acting innocent.

"Cut the crap. You know what I'm talking about. How do you make me talk about stuff without me registering it?" Charlie just smiled at him.

"I know how to push your buttons, Dean. You're not as complex as you'd like to think you are. But, all in all, he sounds great. Why didn't you invite him?"

"He's sick," Dean informed her, looking down at the table.

"Aww, poor Dean. Acting all mopey 'cause his boyfriend is sick," Charlie stuck out her bottom lip.

"Why do I agree to these dinners?"

"Because you love me." She smirked and playfully punched his arm. Dean wondered why people kept doing that.

"You didn't tell me where he worked. Maybe I could send him a little somethin'-somethin'," Charlie winked nudged him with her elbow. Dean laughed and his reply was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't remember where Cas worked. He didn't even think they'd talked about it.

"Uh...I actually don't know," he said.

"So you're nailing the guy, practically gushing about him to me, yet you don't know where the guy works? _Dude_."

"I said nothing about nailing him. But, yeah...no we haven't really talked about much in our person lives. I guess it just hasn't come up. And there is no way in hell you're sending him anything."

They continued their dinner and talked about a variety of things. When they realized it was ten, Dean reminded Charlie that he needed to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the station by five. She teased him about never being bright-eyed or bushy-tailed at five in the morning.

They shared a hug and Dean was on his way to his apartment.

 

•

 

The next day, Dean texted Cas around lunchtime.

 

 

_To: Cas 11:54 a.m._

_Hey, Cas. Feeling any better?_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 12:00 p.m._

_No. I feel worse. Make this stop._

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 12:01 p.m._

_Are you in your bedroom or on the couch?_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 12:02 p.m._

_Couch_

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 12:03p.m._

_Go to bed! Take some medicine and rest. Fall asleep. Dream of me ;)_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 12:04 p.m._

_Fine._

_From: Cas_

 

"What are you smiling about?" Jo asked as she sat on the couch next to Dean.

"I was just texting Cas. He's pretty grouchy because he's sick." Dean smiled fondly at the mention of his boyfriend.

"God, you're two so gross." She teased. Dean huffed a laugh.

"You're just jealous." Dean countered. A couple hours later, the sirens blared and the Dream Team was racing to the scene.

When they pulled up to the burning building, Dean's breath hitched. This couldn't be the place. It couldn't. Not Cas's apartment.

Dean turned to Jo.

"This is his apartment." Dean said.

"Oh no." She replied under her breath.

They all got out of the truck and Benny and Dean raced into the building, Dean was much more urgent.

"Slow down, brotha'. Don't make stupid mistakes." Benny warned. Dean forced himself to calm down and do his job.

"There's a man on the third floor, we have to get him."

"How the hell do ya know that?" Benny asked.

"He's my boyfriend." Dean said before pursuing the familiar apartment. It took Benny a second to process what Dean said, but then he was at Dean's heels. The flames were licking at the walls around them. They needed to move fast. Dean kicked down Cas's door and searched the apartment. He heard coughing down the hallway.

"Cas!"

"Dean? Help, please!" Came a rough voice. Dean found Cas in the hallway, trying to keep out of the smoke. Dean helped him up and Cas limped to the exit with Dean's help.

"Cas, are you hurt? Why are you limping?" Dean was just given coughs for an answer. Benny met them at the door they entered in.

"We gotta go, boys." Benny said urgently. Cas tried to keep up, but he couldn't.

"Benny, he can't walk right, we gotta help him." Dean said. They propped Cas between them and headed for the exit. The flames had grown even larger since they entered.

They were so close to the doors when a chunk of the ceiling came down. It took Benny and Cas down. Benny's leg was pinned and Cas looked unconscious. Dean yelped in surprise and rushed to get the debris off of them.

"Get him outta here, Dean. Go!" Benny yelled, pinned under a beam.

"Benny-"

"Now, Dean! Go!" Dean dragged Cas out and carried him out of the building to the waiting paramedics. When he was sure the ambulance would take care of him, he rushed back inside for Benny. He located him quickly and instantly got to work, trying to lift the beam off of his partner. With all of the adrenaline rushing through Dean, he was able to lift it enough for Benny to slide out. Dean helped his stand up and Benny threw his arm around Dean's shoulder for support and they got out of there. They limped towards one of the many ambulances that responded to the call.

Dean couldn't spot the one he dropped Cas off at. A paramedic came up and helped Benny into the vehicle. There were other people on the bench running along the right side of the ambulance. When they got Benny on, they closed the doors and raced off to the nearest hospital, leaving Dean in the parking lot of the burning building.

He switched modes and went over to help with the hoses. After the fire was officially put out, Dean was dying to get to the hospital. Gabe drove the remaining crew back to the station where Dean stripped in record time and raced to his baby. He fired her up and drive to the hospital.

 

•

 

Cas was aware of two things. His mouth was very, _very_ dry and he was not in his apartment. He started to notice a dull thrum of pain coursing through his body. He groaned.

"Cas?" A voice asked. It sounded familiar, but very distant.

"Cas, are you there?" It spoke again, not sounding quite as far off.

"Castiel. Please open your eyes." Cas slowly blinked his eyes open to Dean's request.

"Oh, thank God." Dean said, relieved.

"Where am I?" Cas asked, immediately coughing violently. Dean grabbed a cup of water and handed it to Cas. He took a long drink and thanked Dean.

"You're in the hospital. Your neighbors thought it would be fun to play a game in which you fling lit matches at each other." Dean informed him. He still couldn't believe the stupidity of rich college students. It's like they wanted to kill each other.

"Why does everything hurt?" He asked next.

"Well, I think _before_ I heroically saved you, you twisted your ankle trying to get out. Then, the ceiling fell on you and knocked you out. On the fall, you sprained your wrist." Dean relayed the information from what he'd heard from the doctor earlier.

"Well it hurts."

"What does?" Dean asked.

"Everything."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading thus far. Don't be afraid to leave comments or critiques. See you next chapter!


	7. He's an Ass, But a Lovable Ass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks you so much for the comments and kudos. I present you, Chapter 7

Cas stayed in the hospital for a couple of days. His lungs didn’t suffer major damage and he was given a light brace for his left ankle and a heavier brace for his right wrist. He hadn’t sprained it severely enough for a cast. Cas was relieved to hear that news. The symptoms of his concussion dulled, but the doctors told him he would still have some evidence from it for the next week. 

Dean, the dutiful boyfriend, stayed with Cas throughout his duration at the hospital. He even switched shifts with someone so he could stay with Cas. He’d have to stay at the station for two whole days next shift, but Dean didn’t care. 

During the day of the fire, Dean had visited Benny when Cas was with the doctors. Benny would be laid up for a few weeks, possibly months, with his broken leg. He kept insisting that he owed Dean for coming back and lifting the debris off his leg, but Dean refused to accept anything. He was just doing what was right. 

 

•

 

“Uh, Cas?” Dean asked as he sat on a chair next to Cas’s hospital bed. 

“Yeah?”

“What…where…where are you gonna live now?” He asked. He had been harboring a fear that Cas would leave this town and move across the country. It was stupid, but Dean was still terrified of the idea. 

“Well, I plan to rent at a different complex. There was one I’ve had my eye on for a while across the park. ‘Pulchritudinous Park’ I believe it’s called,” Cas said. 

“‘Pull-cri- _tood_ -in-us’?” Dean asked, annunciating each syllable. That place sounded fancy as hell. And ridiculously snobby.

“I’m pretty sure it means beautiful. It sound pretentious, but I feel it’ll be a nice apartment.” Cas explained. 

“I don’t mean to be blunt, but, uh, doesn’t that place cost a lot of money?” Dean asked. Cas tucked his chin and smiled. 

“Money is no object. We haven’t really discussed my job have we?” Cas thought about it. They hadn’t. 

“Well, I am the CEO of my father’s enterprise, Godsend. You might have heard of it?” Cas asked. 

“Your dad owns Godsend?” Dean asked incredulously. “How has that not come up?” 

“Well, I believe we were too busy having sex to talk about my occupation. We haven’t talked about a lot of things. For example, my brothers, Michael and Lucifer run the Holy Hell network on TV. It was weird that an entertainment enterprise didn’t have a television channel, so my father let them develop it.” Cas told him.

“You have a brother named Lucifer?”

“It suits him,” Castiel said with remarkable airiness. Dean was truly taken aback. How could he not have noticed? He felt like an idiot. He leaned forward in his chair and placed his head in his hands.

“Hey, don’t do that. I don’t tell a lot of people I’m rich. It makes them act weird around me.” Cas smiled and rubbed Dean’s back with his good hand. Dean looked up and smiled. 

“Then you’re paying for our next date,” Dean teased before leaning in and kissing his boyfriend. Cas smiled and kissed him back.

A nurse cleared her throat in the doorway. The boys snapped their attention to her and Dean sheepishly sat back in his seat. 

“Castiel Novak?”

“That’s me,” he answered.

“Mhmm,” she said disinterestedly. “You’re free to go.” She turned and walked out. 

“I guess we should go then,” Cas said, slightly put off by the nurse’s attitude. Dean laughed at Cas’s unease and stood up. 

“I guess so.”

 

•

 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Dean asked in the car, where he was dropping Cas off to hopefully sign a lease for the apartment. “And shouldn’t you be resting your ankle?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve had my eye on this place for a while, I’ve talked with the renter and she said it was mine if I wanted it. I just need to do some paperwork and I’ll be all set.” Cas reassured him. “Plus, you need to get your ass to work. They’re not paying you to sit in your car halfway across town,” Cas smiled and kissed Dean before emerging from the car. Dean watched him as he walked up to the building. He was limping slightly, but Dean knew Cas would yell at him for staying any longer. He put his car in drive and headed towards the station. 

 

•

 

Two uneventful days later, Dean was finally able to go home. He took a shower and practically dropped on his bed. Though uneventful, the days took a toll on Dean. Between setting up schedules to cover for Benny, dealing with his own bothersome aching muscles, running errands for Rufus, and constantly keeping in touch with Cas, Dean barely got any sleep. 

He was startled awake at the sound of his ring tone, Black Dog. He scrabbled for his phone and held it up to his ear. 

“Hello?” He answered gruffly.

 _“Hey, Dean….did I wake you up?”_ Cas asked on the other line.

“Huh? Oh, no. No….well, yeah,” Dean stammered. 

 _“Dean, it’s seven at night.”_ Cas said, obviously amused. 

“So? What’d you call for?” Dean didn’t like being ridiculed for his sleep schedule. 

“ _Aww, is my poor Dean grumpy?_ ” Cas teased. _“I’m calling because you won’t wake up to your fucking doorbell.”_

Dean’s sleep laden brain was confused for a moment. Doorbell? 

“Oh! Are you? Crap, I’m sorry.” Dean stuttered out upon realization. Cas laughed.

_“Just let me in.”_

Cas hung up and Dean slid his phone into his pocket. He got out of bed and headed for the door, almost tripping on his pant leg. He got to the door and swung it open to find Cas smiling at him. 

“I thought you weren’t home.” The dark haired man said. 

“No, I’m here…I was just-” Dean cut himself off with a yawn. “Sleeping,” he finished sheepishly. Cas smiled and kissed him briefly. 

“Hey, not to sound freaked out or anything, but how did you know where I live?” Dean asked. 

“I have my ways,” Cas answered mysteriously. Dean just gave him a look. “It’s called an address book, Sherlock.” Cas deadpanned. “Why don’t we watch a movie? And did you know you look adorable all sleepy and disgruntled?” Cas asked. 

“Adorable? _This_ is adorable?” He asked, pointing to his abs. 

“Very. And do you ever sleep with a shirt on? Should I be jealous of the fire crew who are on shift with you?” Cas teased. Before Dean could answer, Cas snatched Dean’s hand and walked backwards through the kitchen and into the living room. Cas sat down and rested his left foot on the coffee table. Dean laid down with his head in Cas’s lap. 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you move in,” Dean said dejectedly. 

“It’s not like there was much to actually move in.” Cas dismissed. “And it’s fine. You switched shifts with someone to stay with me in the hospital, you’re good.”

“About that…how’s your wrist, and your ankle….and your head?” Dean asked.

“They’re all fine. Sleeping can be difficult. Yesterday, I woke myself by rolling onto my bad wrist. That hurt like hell.” They looked at each other for a long moment. 

“How about you?” Cas asked, “is anything wrong with you?”

 _“Is anything wrong with me?”_ Dean parroted. 

“You know what I meant.” Cas said. Dean laughed. 

“Just some bruises and sore muscles. No biggie.” Dean said. He sat up and situated himself so he was mirroring how Cas was sitting. He flipped on the tv and they wove their fingers together. 

“What do you wanna watch?” Dean asked. 

“Parks and Rec,” Cas answered, resting his head on Dean’s shoulder. Dean smiled and opened Netflix. How he ever lived without it was a mystery. 

After a couple hours of watching, Cas took to kissing Dean’s neck. It started off sweet and chaste, but Castiel had other plans for tonight. Dean tipped his head so Cas had better access. He started making hickeys that went lower, toward Dean’s chest. 

“I’m glad you’re not wearing a shirt,” Cas commented. He moved, careful of his ankle, so that he was sitting on Dean’s lap. It reminded him of the first time he invited Dean over to his apartment. He planned to reenact that night. 

After making a substantial amount of hickeys, Dean pulled Cas’s face up to his and kissed him. Dean slid on the couch so he was laying down and Cas was on top of him. They kissed slowly and Dean snuck his hands under Cas’s shirt. Soon, Cas’s shirt was removed, leaving him in just his sweat pants. Dean slid his hands to Cas’s ass.

“Are you wearing any underwear?” Dean asked.

“No,” Cas answered, going back to making hickeys on Dean’s neck. 

“Well I guess that makes two of us.” Came Dean’s pleased remark. Cas smiled and kissed Dean on the lips again. 

“Well then that’ll make this a lot easier.” Cas said devilishly as he snuck his left hand under Dean’s waist band. Dean’s breath hitched when Cas started slowly dragging his hand up and down Dean’s length. The taller man ran his fingers through Cas’s hair and rested his hand on the back of Cas’s head. 

“Mmm, that feels good.” Dean said. Cas picked up his speed slightly and watched as Dean’s face changed. How could this man be so breathtaking? Cas stopped, much to Dean’s disappointment. He took Dean’s pants all the way off and immediately started kissing Dean’s hipbones. After a bit of teasing there, he finally started paying attention to Dean’s cock. He licked a stripe up the underside and took the tip into his mouth. He went down slowly, inch my by inch before bobbing his head and starting a rhythm. Dean’s hands hands grabbed at Cas’s hair. What wasn’t going into Cas’s mouth was being attended to with his hand. After a few minutes, Cas pulled off with a pop and smirked. 

“Let’s get this party started.” Cas said as he took a packet out of his pocket and tossed it on Dean’s chest before removing his own pants. 

“Would you like to do the honors this time?” Cas asked. 

“Hell yeah,” Dean answered, sitting up. He ripped open the packet of lube and Cas lay on his back at the opposite end of the couch. Dean slicked up his fingers and slowly pushed one in. 

“Mmm, this is gonna be so good.” Cas said. After a bit, Dean added a second finger to stretch Cas open. By the time Dean added a third finger, Cas was growing impatient. He pushed Dean on his back with his good hand and climbed on top of him. He lined up with Dean’s cock and slowly sunk down on it. 

“Oh, that’s more like it,” Cas moaned. After getting comfortable with the slight burn, Cas moved slowly up and down. It took Dean a bit of will power to not snap up into Cas. In no time at all, their pace was jacked up and Cas grinding down on Dean with everything he had. 

“Oh, God, Dean. You feel so good.” Cas praised. Dean took hold of Cas’s hips and started meeting Cas with every thrust. 

The dark haired man slowed them down and sat up on Dean. He kept his hips moving fluidly.

“We haven’t done this in a week.” Cas said, placing his hands on Dean’s chest, careful to put more weight on his left hand. 

“That’s right.” Dean answered. “I’ve missed this.”

Cas wove their fingers together and picked up the pace again. Dean watched Cas’s face as he searched for his prostate. Once he found it, Cas grinded down on it for all he was worth. With his free hand, Dean jacked Cas off while snapping his hips up to meet his boyfriend’s erratic thrusts. Dean could tell Cas was getting close. 

“Dean! Right there, mmm, feels so good!” Cas said. A few more thrusts and Cas was gone. Between the prostate stimulation and Dean’s hand, there was no way he could’ve lasted longer. With Cas clenching around Dean, all it took was a few more thrusts before Dean was gone, too, spilling deep inside Cas. 

The dark haired man flopped, boneless, on to Dean’s chest. 

“That was great.” Cas said drowsily.

“I agree.” Dean said, a little breathless. Cas picked up his shirt from the floor and cleaned them off as best he could. Before he knew it, he was fast asleep on Dean’s chest. Dean snatched the blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over them, kissing Cas on the forehead before following him into dreamland. 

 

•

 

Dean could tell his arm had fallen asleep before he even opened his eyes. There was a faint noise emanating from the ground. It took Dean a minute to realize that the noise was his alarm. He gently shook Cas awake.   
“Cas,” he coaxed, “I have to get up.”

“No,” Cas complained without opening his eyes. He clung tighter to Dean.

Dean chuckled and tried to slide out from under Cas. The problem was their skin was pretty much stuck together. He eventually managed to escape the warm arms of his boyfriend. Not that he wanted to. He took a quick shower and dressed in his uniform. Cas was still sound asleep on the couch. 

“I’m leaving soon. Feel free to stay here all day. You can borrow clothes if you need to. I’ll be back in 24 hours.” Dean kissed the cheek that was exposed to him. He covered Cas more completely with the blanket.

“I’m never leaving this couch,” Cas said before flipping his head to face the back of the couch. Dean laughed and left the apartment with a spring in his step. 

 

•

 

Jo was alone in the tv room when Dean showed up. He sat down on the couch and joined her in watching whatever was on cable. 

“What the hell are those?” Jo asked, referring to the hickeys on his neck. “Dean Winchester, you sly dog. You had condom guy over last night didn’t you?” She guessed. 

Dean blushed and tried covering it up. He’d completely forgotten about the hickeys Cas had given him.

“For the last time, Jo, his name’s Cas.” Dean said. 

“Deany’s got a boyfriend, Deany’s got a boyfriend,” she taunted. 

“Who has a boyfriend?” Charlie asked as she walked into the room. 

“Dean,” Jo replied smugly. 

“Oh, Cas, right?” Charlie asked as she sat next to Dean. “Nice hickeys, dude.”

“Wait, how do you know about Cas?” Jo asked. 

“Dean and I talked about him over dinner a while ago.” Charlie answered. 

“Then why the hell have I been keeping it a secret?” Jo asked incredulously. 

“Who has a secret?” Gabe asked as he walked into the room. 

“Dean,” Jo and Charlie said in unison. Dean groaned and covered his face with his hands. 

“Who’d he hook up with last night? Killer hickeys, by the way, Dean.” Gabe commented. 

“You guys are unbelievable.” Dean said as he stood up and left the room. He realized belatedly that leaving those three alone wouldn’t be a very good idea. He didn’t need this at five in the goddamn morning. 

“Hey, Dean-“

“Yes, I have a boyfriend!” He snapped. 

“I did not need to know that information.” Rufus said. Dean blanched when he realized that’s who he blurted that to. 

“Sorry, chief.” 

“Whatever. Since you’re down here, can you get a few things for me?” Rufus asked. It always had to be Dean, didn’t it?  
“What do you need?” 

“First, I need you to take engine 2 to the shop, she needs a few maintenance things done with her. I’ll follow you in my car and bring you back, but then I need you to get this stuff,” Rufus handed Dean a list. There were a few chores on there as well as errands. 

_Engine 2_  
_Files from downtown_  
_New gloves from uptown_  
_Schedule planner_  
_Milk_

 

“How much of this do you want done?” Dean asked. 

“All of it, by ten o’clock. So get goin’,” Rufus said. 

They got the first thing done quickly but from then on, Dean was on his own. It was only about 6:30, so he had plenty of time. 

He went downtown to retrieve the files. He hated getting files for Rufus downtown, it took forever. The secretaries must have had a competition to see who can make people wait the longest. And don’t even get him started on the music in the waiting room. No wonder Rufus never did this himself. After an hour of frustrating boredom, Dean texted Jo to have her help him. Dean left his laptop at home, which had all of the scheduling information on it. 

 

_To: Jo 7:46 a.m._

_Can you run to my apartment and grab my laptop out of my room? Rufus is making me do his chores._

_From: Dean_

 

_To: Dean 7:50 a.m._

_Sure. Key’s still above the door, right?_

_From: Jo_

 

_To: Jo 7:51 a.m._

_Yep, thanks_

_From: Dean_

 

Jo got to his apartment and let herself in. She was walking to his room when a figure on the couch stopped her in her tracks. 

“No fucking way,” she whispered to herself. She walked around the couch to get a better look. It was, without a doubt, condom guy. Also know as Cas. And by her surroundings, it was a _naked_ Cas. She tiptoed away and made it to Dean’s room safely. She got his laptop bag and headed back out. She was walking through the living room when she bumped into the coffee table. 

“Shit,” she hissed. 

“Dean?” Cas called out gruffly. He turned his head towards the noise. That was not Dean. 

“You’re not Dean,” he said. 

“And you’re not wearing any clothes.” Jo shot back. Curse her inability to bite back her words. Cas looked down, alarmed, and was relieved to find the blanket covering his decency. He also saw his underwear on the floor. 

“Um, super awkward, but I’m Jo, from the fire station. We met at the store briefly like a month ago.” Jo said. 

“Oh, yeah.” Cas remembered that day. The very next day he ended up in bed with Dean. Which he realized he should not be thinking about with someone in the room while he was naked. 

“It was fun catching up, but I have to deliver this to Dean, bye.” Jo rushed out of the apartment and sped walked to her car. She was speeding back to the station but she didn’t really notice. 

Cas was left speechless on the couch. He grabbed his clothes and went to Dean’s room. 

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 8:30 a.m._

_Hey, next time you send someone over to your apartment while I’m naked on your couch, a warning would be great_

_From: Cas_

 

His phone rang a few minutes later. 

“ _I am so fucking sorry, babe. I complete forgot you were there. I’ve been running errands all morning, I totally blanked.”_ Dean apologized frantically. 

“It was so awkward. I’m glad the blanket was still covering me.”

_“I’m so sorry. Jo wasn’t too… **Jo**  was she?” _

“I’m not completely sure what that means, but she ran out very quickly.” Castiel answered. 

 _“God, I feel so bad. I’m so sorry,”_ Dean apologized. 

“It’s fine Dean, don’t sweat it.” Dean sighed heavily on the other line. 

 _“Um, are you staying there until I get back? I can make it up to you. I feel like such an ass right now.”_ Dean confessed dejectedly.

“I can if you want me to. I don’t have to go into work until my ankle heals up. And you have Netflix, so it’s definitely a possibility.” Cas said. 

_“Ok. I promise you won’t get anymore surprise visitors. I’m so sorry, again. I can’t imagine how awkward it must have been.”_

“Dean, seriously, forget about it. I’ve moved on,” Cas chuckled and crawled under the covers of Dean’s bed, “and it’s too early for more conversation. Get back to your errands, I’ll be sleeping in the bedroom, with the door _locked_.” Cas clipped before hanging up. 

Dean smiled at his phone and laughed at himself. He was an idiot.

 

And Cas was a keeper. 


	8. Gay Men Say Damn Skippy

After staying the night at Dean’s, Cas woke up to the smell of pancakes in the air. He slowly blinked open his eyes and breathed in deeply. His stomach growled and he pulled back the covers on the bed. He pulled on a clean pair of Dean’s sweatpants and wandered towards the intoxicating aroma. When he reached the kitchen, Dean had his back turned to Cas. The dark haired man looked him up and down, appreciating his fireman still dressed in his work clothes. He tiptoed up behind Dean and wrapped his arms around his waist. Dean jumped, but realized it was Cas quickly.

“You’re not supposed to be awake yet,” Dean said softly. 

“How can I stay asleep when it smells so wonderful out here?” Cas said before kissing the back of Dean’s neck. He rested his cheek on Dean’s shoulder. Dean grinned widely. 

“I was gonna serve you breakfast in bed. To kinda apologize for yesterday. Jo was off her rocker when I got back.” Dean revealed. Cas chuckled softly. He stepped away from Dean to sit on a stool at the breakfast table. Cas decided that if Dean wanted to shower him with affection, he wouldn’t stop it. 

 

•

 

“So, I have an entire day to spend with you, what do you want to do first?” Dean asked as they finished their breakfast. 

“Let’s start with a shower,” Cas suggested with a wink. And who was Dean to say no?

After an amazing twenty minutes under the hot spray of water, the men were still very naked and still very turned on. Cas was pinned on the bed by Dean’s weight. Dean shifted and Cas winced in pain. 

“Shit,” Cas hissed. He pulled his wrist to his chest. He looked up into Dean’s worried eyes. “I’m fine, let’s keep going,” Cas said. 

“If you’re sure,” Dean said with a raise of his eyebrows. Cas nodded and Dean leaned back down and kissed him wholeheartedly. Dean trailed his hand down Cas’s side, fingertips brushing over the tanned skin and leaving goosebumps in their wake. Dean rubbed his thumb over the jut of Cas’s hipbone before traveling lower and lower. Dean teased his finger around Cas’s entrance. 

With his good hand, Cas pushed Dean a few inches away. “If you don’t hurry up, I’m going to explode,” he warned. Dean kissed him again deeply before retrieving the lube from the nightstand. He worked Cas open, pulling moans from the dark haired man. Dean wanted those sounds playing on repeat for the rest of his life. After Dean had three fingers sliding in and out of Cas, he pulled them out, making Cas whine. 

“Patience, young grasshopper.” Dean teased while slicking himself up. He pushed in slowly, intently trained on keeping himself together at the tightness of Cas surrounding him. 

“Damn, baby, you’re so tight. You feel so damn good,” Dean said before groaning as Cas rolled his hips up, cueing Dean to get the fuck on with it. 

Dean pulled out slowly, only to slam back in, ripping moans from the man beneath him.

“Does that feel good, baby?” Dean breathed out. 

“God, yes, Dean. You always feel so good.” Cas answered. Dean picked up his pace, chasing the orgasm they both longed after. Dean shifted slightly within Cas and it felt like the goddamn planets were aligning. Cas cried out in pleasure and his orgasm took him for surprise. His chest was painted in thick ropes of his come. 

“Jesus, Cas,” Dean thrusted faster, finally coming as he all but shouted his boyfriend’s name. Dean flopped on his back to the side of Cas, breathing labored. They both had dopey smiles on their faces. Dean rolled onto his side and ran his fingers through Cas’s hopelessly debauched hair. 

Dean pulled Cas onto his chest, the shorter man going willingly. Dean whispered sweet nothings into his boyfriend’s ear while stroking his fingers up and down Cas’s arm. Soon, they were both fast asleep, sated and utterly happy. 

 

•

 

Cas woke much earlier than Dean, having gotten a lot more sleep than him the previous day. He felt sticky and gross, but he was happy. Soon, though, the gross feeling overpowered him. He slipped out of bed and took a quick shower. 

Afterward, he pulled on a fresh pair of Dean’s sweatpants and ventured out into the kitchen. He grabbed a quick snack and went to the living room to watch TV. About an hour later, Dean appeared in the door frame of his bedroom, hair ruffled, and naked as the day he was born. Cas looked over at him and smiled. 

“I at least had the decency to put on pants.” Cas teased from the couch. 

“What use are pants if we’re just gonna take ‘em off again?” Dean asked with a wink and a cheeky grin. Cas cracked up and threw a pillow at him. 

“Pants are necessary in case Jo decides to waltz in here, unannounced.” Cas countered. 

“I’ll hide the key somewhere else if you’re gonna dwell on that subject,” Dean said as he walked towards Cas, laying him out along the couch and kissing him deeply. He pulled back and looked at Cas. 

“How long you been up?” Dean asked.

“An hour or so. I thought you could use the sleep.” Cas answered. 

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” Dean retorted, taking back to kissing Cas again. 

Pants were proven unnecessary. 

 

•

 

“Hey Cas?” Dean spoke softly, stroking Cas’s hand where it lay intertwined with Dean’s. They were sitting on the couch. Cas had his head resting on Dean’s shoulder. The sun was pouring in through the window off to the side, a slight breeze that smelled of spring. Old _Friends_ reruns were on the television.

“Yeah,” Cas prompted when Dean didn’t immediately start talking. Dean swallowed thickly and looked at Cas. 

“I love you.”

Those three little words flipped Castiel’s entire world upside down. He hadn’t had somebody say that to him since high school, and back then, Castiel never said it back. Dean loved him? His chest swelled and he squeezed Dean’s hand. Castiel breathed deeply, scent of freshly mowed grass filling his senses. He wanted to remember this moment. 

Dean _loved_ him. 

The crazy thing was; Cas loved Dean too. For his entire twenty three years, Castiel had never had time to be in love. Right now, though, something inside him felt free, something about Dean just felt…right. 

“I love you, too.” He said softly. Dean exhaled a touch too forcefully, but Cas just leaned in and kissed him. 

The rest of the day was spent cuddling, whispers of _I love you_ tossed in here and there. It was euphoric. The day was also spent as a giant game of 20 questions. They fired inquiries at each other left and right, craving to know more about the one they loved. 

“Favorite food?”

“Pie. Duh!”

Cas chuckled before continuing. “Favorite color?”

“It used to be red…but there’s a certain shade of blue that throws me for a loop.” He answered. 

“Did Dean Winchester just use the phrase ‘throw me for a loop’?” Cas teased. He was shut up in the form of kisses. 

“How about you, what’s your favorite Jim Carrey movie?” Dean asked. 

“It’s a toss up between _Bruce Almighty_ and _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_.” Cas answered. Dean smiled and kissed him again. 

“What’s your middle name?” Cas asked. 

“I don’t have one.” Dean answered simply. 

“What do you mean you don’t have one? Everyone has one.”

“Well I don’t. What’s yours mister full-name?” Dean asked. 

“Anaximander. And there’s no way you _don’t_ have a middle name.” Cas said, poking Dean to further his point. 

“Wait wait wait wait wait!" Dean said through laughter, "your middle name is _Anaximander_?" he asked incredulously. 

“Don't change the subject. Now, tell. Me. Your. Middle. Name.” Cas said threateningly, inching closer to Dean’s face, squinting his eyes until they were practically shut. He stopped barely an inch in front of Dean’s face. 

“You are the only person who has ever questioned further about this.” Dean said.

“Stop avoiding the question. Tell me.”

Dean stayed silent. 

“Dean, so help me god, I will withhold any and all sex, including oral, if you do not tell me right now.” Cas threatened, moving so he was straddling Dean’s lap, staring him down. 

“Ok, ok, Jesus. Would you really do that?”

“Answer. The question.”

“Ross. My middle name is Ross.”

Cas sat there for a moment, pondering Dean’s answer. 

“That was a total let down.” Cas said with a huff. 

“What?”

“I was expecting something like Eugene or Maddox. Not…Ross.” Cas said. Dean laughed at the second name. Maddox? Where the hell did people come up with these names? After a while, Cas joined in with Dean’s laughter. 

“Am I seriously the only one who knows you have a middle name?” Cas asked, after having calmed down a bit. 

“You, my brother, and Rufus. And Rufus only knows because he’s my boss.” 

“You have a brother?” Cas asked. 

“Uh, yeah. He’s twenty, going to school to be a lawyer, pro bono stuff. We haven’t talked much because of our schedules. I haven’t seen him since he left for Stanford when he was eighteen.” Dean got a sort of misty look, he was staring off, as if he were in a different place. 

“Well, he sounds like a good man.” Cas said, looping his arms around Dean’s neck. 

“He is.” Dean answered. 

 

•

 

They day glided along, the men oblivious to the world around them. Dean was more than disappointed when his alarm went off at half past four in the morning. 

He was warm. He was comfortable. His boyfriend was practically fused to his side. What cruel world would take him from this paradise? Ah, yes. The wonderful world of firefighting. 

“Cas,” Dean groaned, voice hoarse with both over use a few hours ago and lack of use during sleep. Cas just hummed a response. 

“I have to get up.” Dean said, bringing the hand that wasn’t trapped under Cas’s body to swipe at his sleep laden eyes. 

“We’ve had this discussion. You’re not allowed to leave.” Cas mumbled into Dean’s chest. When Dean started to move, Cas flipped over and took the covers with him. A quick rush of cold air swept over Dean’s naked body. 

“Jesus, Cas. A little warning next time.” Dean said as he walked into the bathroom for a shower. 

Dean walked back into the bedroom after his shower to find Cas exactly how he left him. He changed into his work clothes and sauntered over to Cas’s side of the bed. He ran a hand through that relentless dark mop of hair and kissed Cas’s forehead. 

“I love you,” Dean whispered. A smile spread across Cas’s face. 

“I love you, too,” he replied hoarsely. “I probably won’t be here when you get back, there are things I need to do at my place. Text me when you get to the station.”

“Aye aye, Cap’n.” Dean answered before making his way to work. 

 

•

 

Cas returned to his apartment around lunch time. The space he rented was scarcely occupied. He liked Dean’s apartment better. Dean’s place felt homey and relaxed. 

Cas walked to the couch, his footsteps echoing through the mostly empty space. He sat down and propped his leg up on his new coffee table. He pulled out his phone. 

 _“Godsend Enterprises how may I be of assistance?”_ The secretary chirped. 

“Hello, Becky, I’d like to speak with my father.” 

_“He’s unavailable right now, but I can get you Zachariah.”_

“Yeah, that’s fine thanks,” there was a pause, but soon enough Zachariah’s intimidating voice filtered through. 

_“Castiel. I didn’t see you at the meeting this morning.”_

“Yes, I’ve informed you many times that I am on medical leave until Monday. I’ve set up for people to cover my work and meetings.” Castiel explained, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. 

_“Yes, I remember now. Is there a reason for this phone call, then?”_

“I was just checking in. Are there any schedule changes from now until Monday?” Castiel asked. 

_“Not right now. If that’s all, I’m a very busy man.”_

“Yes, thank you.” Zachariah hung up and Cas stared at his phone. He was such a dick. 

Even though Cas was supposed to stay off of his ankle, he took the opportunity of being here to organize his new things. He was in the middle of filling his closet with new clothes when his phone alerted him of a text. 

 

_To: Cas 2:32 p.m._

_Hey, babe, you busy?_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 2:33_

_Not at all. What’s up?_

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 2:33 p.m._

_I’m bored as hell. Everyone is sleeping. I was doing that when I got here but now I’m wide awake_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 2:34 p.m._

_Sounds like you have yourself a dilemma._

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 2:34_

_You’re telling me. How’s your day been? You said you had stuff to do?_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 2:35 p.m._

_Yeah, work stuff. Made a few calls. Now I’m organizing my closet. Shouldn’t take too much longer, it’s not like I have much._

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 2:37 p.m._

_Sounds about as dull as my day_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 2:38 p.m._

_What exciting lives we have. Do you want to come over after your shift? Help me move the heavy stuff. I’m sure I’ll be able to pay you one way or another ;)_

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 2:40 p.m._

_Sounds like a date. G2g, Jo’s woken up and she’s rounding up the team for something. I’ll probably text you later_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 2:41_

_Awesome. Have fun with Jo. I love you_

_From: Cas_

 

Dean smiled at his phone. Those three words were still so new, they sent a spark of happiness through him. 

 

_To: Cas 2:42 p.m._

_I love you too_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

  
“Who’re you texting?” Jo asked. She looked at Dean’s love struck face and groaned. “Are you ever _not_ in contact with him?” She asked, taking a seat on the couch. 

 

•

 

Dean fell asleep on the couch around midnight. He was having a weird dream. Gabe was telling a joke but Dean couldn’t hear him clearly. 

Laughter startled Dean out of his sleep. 

“…to pay you in one way or another. And then there’s a winky face!” Gabe erupted in laughter, Jo mirroring his look of amusement. Dean shot straight up and lunged for his phone, but Gabe was prepared. The short man shot across the room, keeping distance between Dean and himself. 

“Aww, you guys are in looove,” Gabe teased in a high pitched voice. Dean walked over and snatched his phone from Gabriel’s paws. 

“No damn sense of privacy with you people,” Dean grumbled on the way to the kitchen. He needed to put a lock on his phone.

 

•

 

Five uneventful hours later, Dean was on his way to Cas’s apartment. He shot off a warning text to Cas so he could let him in. When he arrived at Cas’s door, we was greeted with a deep kiss and pulled through a barren apartment to Cas’s bedroom. Dean quickly got rid of his shoes and discarded his uniform pants. Cas slid under the covers and pulled Dean with him to use as a pillow. 

“Sleep first,” Cas mumbled, dozing off on Dean’s chest. Dean smiled and kissed the top of his boyfriend’s head. He could do that. 

At least, he thought he could do that. Dean couldn’t seem to fall asleep. He didn’t mind though, he was more than happy to lay with Cas and have a few hours of thinking. After a while, Dean’s thoughts traveled to the half naked body cuddling up to him. 

How many hours did one really need to stay functional, anyway?

Dean gently shook Cas awake. 

“Babe? Are you awake?” Dean asked. Cas huffed a weak laugh.

“I am now,” he said in a low register, propping himself up to kiss Dean on the lips. He meant it to be chaste, but Dean’s hand snaked its way into Cas’s hair and kept him there. “Mm, ambitious this morning, are we?” Cas teased. 

“Damn straight,” Dean said happily. 

“I don’t think this is particularly straight, Dean,” Cas retorted. 

Dean laughed at Cas. That joke took him by surprise. 

“No it is not,” He replied with a grin. Cas leaned back down and kissed him again. Dean flipped them so Cas was pinned under him. Dean continued kissing Cas, everything moving with the fluidity of a well oiled machine.

Dean’s hand traveled down to get this show on the road by palming Cas’s cock. 

Which is exactly the time his pager decided to go off. 

Dean bowed his head and groaned. 

“Fuck my life.” 

“What is that?” Cas asked. Much to Cas’s confusion, Dean moved off of him and started dressing himself. 

“It’s my pager, all hands on deck sort of deal. I’m sorry, I’ll have to take a rain check on this.” Dean said as a laced up his boots. 

“Yeah, it’s fine, text me afterwards, ok?”

“Of course,” Dean answered. 

“I love you,” Cas said, a little let down Dean had to leave so soon. Ok, a lot let down. 

“I love you, too. And don’t pout too much, I won’t be too long.” Dean said as he kissed Cas a final time before heading out. 

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 7:22 a.m._

_I love you, stay safe!_

_From: Cas_

Dean smiled at the message before hopping into Engine 17. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's chapter 8 for you. Awwww, they're in love! In case you didn't know before, Misha actually named his firstborn West Anaximander Collins, so that's where that comes from. Kudos and comments are welcome, thanks for reading!


	9. It's Not A Hat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Get your head out of your ass, it's not a hat" Possibly one of my favorite quotes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry my updates are random and inconsistent as my life is those things as well as redundant and self repeating

Two weeks later and Cas was back to normal. The only problem with that was he couldn’t see Dean as often as he’d like to. Between Dean’s M/W/F plus every other Sunday schedule, and Cas back at the office swamped with makeup work, it was hard to find time to be together. 

Which sucked. 

Castiel was irritated beyond belief. Zachariah was hitting him with file after file of busywork, completely unforgiving of Cas’s reason for his absence. It’s like Zachariah thought Cas dropped a burning building on himself on purpose. Every knock on his door was someone there to either give him an earful for being gone or pile on the paperwork. It was only half past three and Castiel wanted to tear his hair out. 

He heard another knock on his door. 

“What else could you possibly want from me!?” He snapped. 

Dean shuffled in with an alarmed look. When Cas realized who it was he retreated in on himself. 

“Shit, I’m sorry Dean,” he said in a calmer, quieter voice, “I’m going insane at the moment.”

Dean walked over to Cas’s desk and sat on the corner, setting a bag on the flat surface. Well, it was flat under all of the files piled up. 

“You ok?” Dean asked, leaning in to give his boyfriend a chaste kiss. 

“Yeah, I’m just…stressed out, to say the least. Zachariah’s been dumping everything on me since the minute I walked in. Apparently, the people I got to cover for me did not tickle his fancy.”

Dean laughed. “Dude, you just said ‘tickle his fancy’. What year did I time travel into when I stepped in your office?” A broad smile on his face. 

Cas chuckled to himself. Leave it to Dean to make him laugh while he’s wound this tight. He looked up at Dean and relaxed. He could get through this. 

“So what’s in the bag?” Cas asked, shifting onto a new subject. 

“Lunch.” Dean answered simply. 

 

One late lunch later, and Castiel was practically a new man. Dean had amazing affects on his mood. 

  
“Yeah, and the summer bash is in like a month, so the fire department has to plan for that,” Dean continued, informing Cas of his foreseeable schedule. 

“The summer bash?” Cas asked, unfamiliar with the event. 

“Yeah, the fire department hosts a “fun in the sun” day for the kids to kick off their summer. It’s free, but donations help with payments for gear and equipment.” Dean explained. 

“Sounds like a blast,” Cas said. 

“Ah-hem,” a voice came from the door. “If you’re finished with your play date, there’s plenty of work to be done, Castiel.” Zachariah said coldly, dropping another file on his desk. The older man stared harshly at Cas and Dean before making his exit.

  
“Well, he’s a dick.” Dean said. He looked down at his watch. “But a punctual one, I guess. I have to leave now if I want to get back to the firehouse on time. Rufus only gives so long for lunch. If you want, you can crash at my place tonight.” Dean stood up and gave Castiel another quick kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Dean. Stay safe.” Castiel said as Dean saluted before embarking on his journey back to the firehouse. 

At least Castiel was in a much better mood now. He could manage the rest of the day. He hoped. 

 

  
•

 

  
“What the hell took you so long?” Jo chimed in from the couch. 

“I can’t spend quality time with my boyfriend?” Dean asked. “I was just gonna drop off the food, but he looked miserable so I stayed and chatted with him. Is that a crime?”

“I guess not. And speaking of this boyfriend of yours, when do I get to meet him?” Jo asked. 

“You’ve already met him.”

“That was _before_ you were dating. It doesn’t count.” Jo said. 

“Yeah, Dean.” Gabe parroted as he sauntered into the room. “I’m just kidding, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He said as he plopped down on the recliner.

 Dean rolled his eyes. It was going to be a long day.

 

  
•

 

  
While Dean’s reprieve left Cas pointed in the right direction, he was quickly blown off course once more. He had to stay at the office until eleven just to meet the deadlines. He was exhausted, hungry, and extremely irritable. He flopped on Dean’s bed after managing to strip most of his work clothes off. He planned to shower beforehand but now that he was laying down, he never wanted to get up. He quickly drifted off, not even bothering to pull the sheets over his body. 

That’s how Dean found him early that morning. He leaned against the doorframe and raked his eyes over Cas’s muscular back. He walked toward the bed and smiled to himself. Cas looked like he could use a back rub. Dean gingerly sat down on the back of Cas’s thighs and proceeded to lightly run his fingers up and down the sleeping man’s back. He soon added more pressure, making sure to get all of the knots out of his boyfriend’s muscles. Cas made a delighted noise. 

“Mmm, Dean. Feels good.” Cas groaned out. “Time s’it?” Cas slurred, bringing a hand from under the pillow to swipe at his eyes. 

“Half past five.” Dean answered, continuing to massage Castiel. 

“Ugh, fuck,” Cas said, displeased. 

“Why, Castiel, what possessed you to use such foul language?” Dean teased. 

“I have to go back into work at six thirty.” Cas said. Dean furrowed his brow. 

“On a Saturday?” 

“Unfortunately, yes. Even though I stayed until eleven last night, more work is always to be done.” Cas said. 

“Aren’t you the CEO of this place?” Dean asked. 

“Technically, yes, but my father places Zachariah in a higher power than me.” Cas explained. 

“That’s ridiculous. But, still, can’t you shove the paperwork on someone lower on the food chain?” Dean suggested, kneading into Cas’s shoulders. 

“Most of it requires my stamp of approval, but I could give some of the less important files to an intern. That would make things a lot easier. You’re so smart, Dean.” Cas slurred, still half asleep. 

“I’ll be here all week.” Dean said. Cas laughed softly. 

“As long as you keep doing this, you can stay here all year.” Cas said, relaxing into Dean’s massage. 

 

  
•

 

  
Though Dean’s advice sounded great in theory, it did not work in practice. Zachariah practically hovered over Cas, making sure he did the work by himself. Which, quite frankly, was ridiculous. Castiel was CEO of this company, he shouldn’t be doing intern work. He tried to contact his father, but the man seemed to always be stuck in a meeting. A week went by and Cas was beyond high strung. He was very irritable, and snapped at almost everyone who crossed him in the smallest way. When Cas got to see Dean, the shorter man was too busy brooding to do much of anything. Dean was walking on eggshells around him, Cas knew that, but he couldn’t make himself stop.

One Thursday, Dean decided enough was enough. They were in Dean’s living room, Castiel _still_ working on his laptop. 

“Cas,” Dean said, trying to get his boyfriend’s attention. Cas was obviously somewhere else. 

“ _Castiel_ ,” he said more firmly. The working man dismissed him with a flick of his wrist. 

“Don’t you fucking do that to me,” Dean said, exasperated with Cas’s recent behavior. They hadn’t had a real conversation in about a week. 

Cas shifted his attention briefly to Dean, a stern look on his face. He looked back at his screen. 

“I’m sorry that I can’t cuddle with you because my boss is dumping work on me. You wouldn’t get it, you’re just a fireman.” Castiel said tiredly, not even looking at Dean as he spoke. 

Dean was taken aback. He did _not_ just say that to him. _Just a fireman?_ Who the _fuck_ did he think he was? Dean laughed darkly, no humor about it. 

“Just a fireman, Cas? Why don’t you fuck off? Or do you need me to tell your boss to tell you that so you’ll actually do it?” Dean asked. 

“Dean, I don’t have time for this.” Cas said, eyes still trained on his screen. 

“That’s the point, Cas! You don’t have time for _anything!_ All you do is slave away for that dick. The last time we had an actual conversation was almost a week ago! If I didn’t know you were so whipped by your boss, I’d assume you were seeing someone else.” Dean declared. 

Cas finally took his eyes off of his computer and stared, dumbfounded, at Dean’s spiel. 

“I’m sorry the real world has work that needs to be done.” Castiel deadpanned. 

“You know what? Why don’t you go home and work there? I’m tired of having your shitty attitude around! You can apologize to me in person when you’ve finally removed your head from your ass.” Dean spat out, stomping into his bedroom and slamming the door. 

Cas sat there for a second. A ding from his computer reminded him of the work he needed to get done. Begrudgingly, he packed up and left without another word. 

On his drive home, he was seething. He was muttering every cuss word he knew. His knuckles were white as they gripped the steering wheel. He didn’t need that from Dean. Didn’t he realize how stressed Cas was? Couldn’t he see Cas had had enough demands? Didn’t he know how overbearing Zachariah was?

Castiel paused in his train of thought. No, Dean _wouldn’t_ know because Cas never talked to him. Besides the meetings he attended, he never talked to anyone. 

 

Shit. 

When he parked his car, Dean’s words hit him. He was right, Cas hadn’t had a casual conversation in a week, with anyone. He needed to talk to Zachariah. Cas didn’t know why he was punishing him so cruelly, but he wouldn’t stand for it if it was impacting his personal life. 

Cas mentally ran through the argument in his head. If he was completely honest, he wasn’t paying much attention to what either of them had said. 

He was standing in front of his couch when he realized what he had said to Dean. Cas sat down in a rush. He had belittled Dean’s career. The very career that _saved his life_ a few months ago. How could he be so arrogant, so foolish?

It only took Cas a car ride home to ‘get his head out of his ass’ as Dean so eloquently put it. 

But Dean had also said Cas needed to apologize in person. Which, as he gave a disdainful look at his laptop, brought him back to square one. 

Work. 

  
It would always be work. Luckily, tomorrow was Friday, and his father never scheduled meetings on Friday. He’d sort this out one way or another.

 

  
•

 

  
When Dean slammed his bedroom door, he was furious. Did Castiel really just say that to him? That man was lucky he was leaving without a bloody nose. He heard his front door close and he took a deep breath. 

Dean stalked over to his en suite bathroom and decided to take a shower to keep himself from doing anything stupid, like getting drunk. If he clocked in smelling like booze tomorrow, Rufus would kick his ass. 

After a fifteen minute shower, Dean slipped on sweatpants and meandered into the kitchen. The water pressure in his shower did wonders for his mood. He was still pissed at Cas, but he wasn’t going to do anything impulsive. He’d let Cas figure out how to right this wrong.

He made himself a light dinner and decided to turn in early. His work schedule didn’t care if he got into a spat with his boyfriend, Dean still had to show up ready to fight fires. 

 

  
•

 

  
Three hours later and Cas was done for the day. He closed his laptop and sunk into the plush couch. His hands swept down his face, as if they were cleansing him of today’s stress. They weren’t. 

His phone buzzed on the coffee table and he leapt forward to read the text, hoping it was Dean.

He was disappointed. 

 

  
_To: Cas 10:46 p.m._

_Cassie, darling, we haven’t spoken in quite some time. Mind if we caught up?_

_From: Balthazar_

 

  
_To: Balthazar 10:47 p.m._

_Sorry, but I’ll have to decline. I’m swamped with work_

_From: Cas_

 

  
_To: Cas 10:48 p.m._

_Don’t be dense, Cassie, we could get drinks tonight, or even tomorrow. It will be Friday after all._

_From: Balthazar_

 

  
_To: Balthazar 10:50 p.m._

_Can I give you a rain check?_

_From: Cas_

 

  
_To: Cas 10:55 p.m._

_Open your door_

_From: Balthazar_

 

Cas stared confusedly at his phone. Was Balthazar implying he was at the door? His phone buzzed again. 

 

_To: Cas 10:58 p.m._

_Yes, I’m at the door, now let me in!_

_From: Balthazar_

 

Cas stoop up and made his way to the entrance. He swung open the door to an unamused British friend. Said British friend brushed past him, into the apartment. 

“What is this I hear of too much work, Cassie?” He said as he sat on Cas’s couch. Cas closed the door slowly and started towards the living room. 

“Zachariah has been dumping files on me all week. It won’t be different tomorrow.” Cas said, taking a seat next to Balthazar. 

“Oh, screw Zachariah, you know you’re at a higher rank than he is, correct?” Balthazar questioned.

“Yes, I know, but my father places him above-“

“Your _father?_ _Your_ father? You listen to that scruffy little thing?” Balthazar interrupted. 

“Balth, he’s my employer, he could-“

“Screw what he _can_ do! You know he won’t do anything to you. If that lower level dickbag is swamping you with petty work, tell him to shove it. Pass the paper work onto interns.” 

“Not you, too,” Cas said disdainfully. 

“What are you talking about?” Balthazar asked. 

“Dean told me the same thing.”

“Who’s Dean?” Balthazar asked. 

Cas turned red in the face. He’d regrettably kept minimal contact with Balthazar, only informing him of his move to the new apartment. 

“He’s, uh, my boyfriend.” Cas said quietly. 

“And why the bloody hell am I just now being told?” Balthazar asked. 

“Well, as I said, I’ve been busy…”

“This _Dean_ wouldn’t happen to be the infamous fireman would it?” Balthazar asked. Cas’s lack of answer was answer enough. “Well in that case, you should definitely be with _him_ tomorrow evening.” Balthazar teased. 

“Yet again, unlikely.” Cas deadpanned. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” 

“We got into a pretty big fight today. He kicked me out.” Cas said, pinching between his eyebrows with his index and thumb. 

“Is that so? And what was the spat about, if I may be so bold?”

“Uh…work.” Cas said sheepishly. Balthazar let out a long breath. 

“Cassie, Cassie, Cassie.” He chided, shaking his head. “It looks like you’ve dug yourself one hell of a foxhole. Now tell me the details of your spat so I can save your sorry arse.” Balthazar prodded. Cas sighed, but recounted what happened only a few hours ago.

 “Cassie, you blithering idiot,” Balthazar said. “I thought I wouldn’t have to give you a lecture on politeness but I guess I do. For starters, at least look at someone when they’re talking to you, especially your _boyfriend_. Second, do not discredit one’s job. Especially if said job saved your _life_. And what was it you said right before you belittled his career?” Balthazar asked in a leading fashion. Humility always worked with Castiel. 

“I told him that I didn’t have time to cuddle with him.” Cas said ashamedly. 

“Bingo! And where did that come from? You’ve never said anything so entitled or, quite frankly, asinine before. ‘I don’t have time to cuddle’? I’m surprised he didn’t deck you in the mouth! I sure as hell would’ve!” 

“I know! I know! I felt bad as soon as the words escaped my mouth. I’ve just been so stressed because of Zachariah that my filter was obviously not working.”

“Don’t go using Zachariah as a scapegoat, either, Cas. He might play a hand in stress, but he didn’t put those words in your mouth.” Balthazar gentled his tone and placed a hand on Cas’s shoulder. “Look, if you want to keep this Dean around, you’ll have to do some major damage control. I suggest straightening this work thing out first, and go from there.” Cas looked at Balthazar and nodded, incapable of words at the moment. 

“Now, I’ll leave you to rest up, you have a trying day ahead of you. I wish you best of luck, don’t fuck up too badly. Text me after it happens, I want to stay informed from now on.” Balthazar said before standing and turning to leave. 

“Thank you, Balthazar. I’ll be sure to keep in better touch. Drive safe.” Castiel said as he walked his friend to the door. They waved and Cas retreated back into his apartment. 

Tomorrow would be a rough day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are welcome. Thank you for keeping up with this story!


	10. Empty Beds and Bad Behaviors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, this chapter isn't quite as long, but I promise next chapter will be fantastic! Enjoy!

Dean woke up groggily by the sound of his alarm. He shut it off and turned to face the other side of the bed. It was then he remembered that Cas had not stayed the night. He also remembered _why_ he hadn’t, which had Dean in a bad mood not ten seconds after waking up. He grumbled as he pulled himself out of bed and got ready for another day of work. 

By the time he arrived, his mood had not improved. If anything, it had gotten worse because he had time to replay the night before repeatedly in his mind. 

He slumped on the couch, folded his arms and closed his eyes. That’s when a particularly nosy coworker joined him.

“Dean-o, what’s crackalackin’?” 

“I don’t even know how to respond to that, Gabriel.” Dean said, keeping his eyes closed. 

“Oh, no. Is Deanie boy having a pouty day? Did someone hurt his feelings?” Gabe teased. 

“Can’t you just leave me alone?” Dean asked, irritated with his friend. Gabe stared a hole into the side of his fellow fireman’s face.

“Dean, what’s up?” 

Dean opened his eyes to an uncharacteristically serious face on Gabe. He sighed and sat up. 

“Cas and I…we got in a fight.” Dean said quietly. Gabe pondered Dean’s response. 

“Details?” Gabe asked, a small glint in his eye. Dean knew he’d have to deal with his sass, but he recounted the previous night. 

“If I were you, I’d dump him. But I’m not you, and you’ll probably do something stupid like forgive the dumb fuck. God, he sounds like an ass,” Gabe said. 

“I appreciate the effort, but you’re not really helping.” Dean sighed and ran a hand down his face. 

“And what the _hell_ did he mean by calling you ‘just a fireman’?” Gabe shouted. 

“Gabe! Lower your voice, it’s five in the morning.” Dean chided. Gabe lowered his voice but now he was just whisper yelling. 

“If that dickbag thinks he can just get away with degrading our lives, he has another thing coming.” Gabe warned. “I mean, who the hell does he think pulled his sorry ass out of his burning building? It sure as hell wasn’t the tooth fairy!”

“Gabe, back off. I’ll handle this and you’ll stay out of it. Ok?”

“Whatever. But just so you know, I don’t really like this Cas guy,” Gabe snarled. 

“You got to meet Cas and I didn’t?” Jo said indignantly as she strode into the room.

“Can there not be a single conversation that isn’t interrupted by one of you clowns?” Dean asked. 

“Why did he get to meet Cas and not me?” Jo asked, brushing past Dean’s comment. 

“He didn’t meet Cas.”

“Then why did you say you didn’t like him?” Jo asked Gabe. 

“Because from what Dean tells me, he’s a self entitled dickbag.” 

“No, he’s not, Gabe. We just got in a fight.” Dean admonished. 

“Woah, you guys got in a fight? Like a fist fight?” Jo asked excitedly. 

“No, Jo, an argument. Although I kinda wanted to punch him when he said-” Dean cut himself off. 

“Said what? What did he say?” Jo questioned. 

“Never mind, I’m going to sleep. I don’t want to talk about it, Jo, so don’t ask. Don’t wake me up unless it’s for work.” Dean said. He exited the room and went to bed. 

 

  
•

 

  
Cas woke up early the next morning and got ready for work. He noticed it was a little after six and thought about how Dean would be at work. 

Thinking of Dean made his heart clench, but he told himself he was going to fix this. So that’s what he set out to do. 

As soon as he arrived at work, he dropped his bag off on his desk and marched towards his father’s office with determination. 

“Castiel. Out of your office, are we? Now, you know that’s no way work gets done.” Zachariah said. He was holding folders that Castiel presumed were for himself. 

“Just having a chat with my father. That’s not against the law, Zachariah.” Castiel said, mood dampened just by being around the older man. 

“No, Castiel, it’s not.” Zachariah eyed him suspiciously. “I’ll leave these on your desk. See to it you’ll go through them by lunch.” He said curtly before heading in the direction of Cas’s office. 

Boy, was Cas glad Zachariah couldn’t read minds.

He walked into his father’s office to find the ‘scruffy little thing’ as Balthazar described him. You’d expect a high end profile such as him to be clean shaven, dressed in a sharp suit and all around suave. He was none of those things. He was unshaven and dressed in what looked like a robe. Castiel noticed a half full tumbler of…something on his desk. He looked up from his computer screen and noticed his son standing there.

“Hello, Castiel.” He said. 

“Chuck,” Cas replied in greeting. He took a seat in one of the black leather chairs in front of the desk. “I have a slight problem.”

“And what is that?” Chuck asked distractedly. 

“Zachariah has been unjustly swamping me with intern level paperwork. It’s been causing problems for me.” Castiel informed the older man. 

“Zachariah? He shouldn’t even be on your floor.” Chuck revealed confusedly. 

“He’s been leaving me files for over a week now. I’m sure you’ve heard about it? Or at least noticed the influx of paperwork. I am quite efficient if I do say so myself.”

“I haven’t gotten a thing.” 

Castiel closed his eyes and leaned forward. This had to be a joke. He didn’t waste a week of his life doing busywork and jeopardizing his relationship for nothing. 

“You mean to tell me you haven’t seen a scrap of paperwork from me?” Castiel asked lowly. 

“I haven’t.” His father replied. 

“So, you haven’t been telling him to do this to me?”

“No, I haven’t spoken with him yet this month.” 

Castiel stood up and stormed towards his office. The entire reason he was doing all that extra work was because he thought his _father_ was ordering it of him. He caught Zachariah in the hall and beckoned him into his office.

“Zachariah, I had a very interesting conversation with my father just now.” Castiel said, biting back his anger. 

“I’m not sure what you-“

“Don’t give me that bullshit. Why have you been dumping all of this intern work on me? Chuck said he didn’t ask you to do it. Who do you think gave you the right?” Castiel said, turning hostile. He caught a glimpse of fear in Zachariah’s eyes. Castiel didn’t give him the chance to answer.

“I’ve spent the last week of my life doing this useless paperwork for nothing,” Castiel spat out. He took a step closer to the older man. “You kept me working far past office hours all for what? Tell me, Zach, exactly why I dropped any form of a social life just to get this shit done!” He took another menacing step forward. He lowered his voice and spoke softy. “Explain to me why this pile of crap caused a rift in my personal affairs.” He finished, pointing to the stack of paperwork on his desk. 

Zachariah swallowed thickly.

“I want you and all of these files out of my office and I don’t want to see your ugly mug in this floor for a month. You do realize that I am of higher rank, correct?” Castiel asked rhetorically. “You also realize that I could fire you so fast it would leave your head spinning.” Zachariah bowed his head, did as he was told, and left Cas’s office with armfuls of paperwork. 

Cas sighed heavily and sat back in his chair. Thoughts of Dean flashed through his mind as he continued throughout his day. Part one of his road back to normalcy was complete, now he just needed to find a way to make it up to Dean. 

After getting everything back in order at the office, Castiel decided to go to the store. He hadn’t had any time to purchase groceries for himself this past week. 

 

  
•

 

  
Dean woke up around ten and snuck downstairs to the engine bay. He didn’t want to deal with Gabe or Jo at the moment. 

That might’ve been a mistake. 

Dean should’ve known better than to be anywhere near Rufus’ office this time of day. 

“Dean! Just the man I wanted to see.”

Dean groaned and looked towards the ceiling. 

“Well it’s nice to see you too,” Rufus said sarcastically. “Don’t worry your pretty little head, I just need a few things from the store. You workers go through the fridge faster than a starving pack of wolves.” He said, pulling out his wallet and a list and handing both to Dean. “Chop chop.”

Dean rolled his eyes and headed towards his car. 

In Dean’s mind, a few things meant he could check out in the express lane. He was sorely mistaken when he had to fill an entire cart with food items. He grumbled to himself as he picked up the last things before checkout.

“Dean?” A low voice called out. Dean dropped his head. Today just kept getting better and better. He turned to face his boyfriend.

“Look, Cas, I don’t have time right now.” He said before turning back and pushing his cart towards checkout, last items be damned. 

“Dean,” Cas called out, but Dean had already rounded the corner. “Damn it.” 

It looked like Cas was going to have to do a little more than just talk to Dean. 

 

  
•

 

  
After dropping his grocery items off at home, Cas looked around and noticed how dirty his apartment was. At least, it was dirty for someone who was only half moved in. He cleaned up the place and decided to have a late lunch. Afterword, he started brainstorming ideas to let Dean know how sorry he was. He found the perfect way to do so in a little over an hour of thinking. He embarked on his journey to his boyfriend’s apartment. 

Cas let himself into Dean’s place by using the spare key hidden above the doorframe. The fireman said he’d move it, but never actually followed through. Cas was grateful for his boyfriend’s fluctuating laziness. 

Having a boyfriend with a schedule like Dean’s helped Castiel form a plan to make up for his stupidity. He started by just cleaning the apartment. It was the least he could do, and the mindless task helped him develop another course of action. He started in the living room, throwing away trash and empty beer bottles. He put everything in its place and even vacuumed after the room was in order. He moved onto the bathroom in the hallway, then to the bedroom. It looked like Dean had neglected to do any laundry lately. He fixed that and went to the kitchen. That space didn’t need as mush work. It seemed Dean hadn’t occupied it much. 

When the apartment was spotless, Cas went about setting up his grand apology. He just needed to be sure to keep a watchful eye on the clock. He couldn’t be here when Dean got home. At least, not right away. He stuck the first phase of his plan to the outside of Dean’s door and left, checking his watch. 

1:32 a.m. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What does Cas have in mind? Thanks for reading, kudos and comments make me smile! I promise it won't take a month for the next update.


	11. It's a Cold and it's a Broken Hallelujah

 "Alright, guys! Food's ready!" Benny hollered from the kitchen.

The Dream Team eagerly filed in and took their seats at the table. Benny served the spaghetti and sat down with the rest of the gang.

"Dig in!" He declared. Nobody needed to be told twice, just the aroma had their mouths watering.

"Mmm, Benny. Mest 'asta eber!"

"Gabe! Stop talking with food in your mouth, it's gross." Jo complained. Gabe stuck out a saucy tongue in response. He swallowed and spoke again.

"Too bad it took you forever to make." He teased. It was almost nine in the evening after all.

"You want me ta take the resta that away?" Benny threatened. Gabe shook his head and shoveled in more pasta. Ten minutes later, they were interrupted by a call. They all hopped into action, Gabe sneaking in one final bite before following the squad down to the trucks. The call turned out to be an abandoned house fire. Nobody was injured, but it took a while to extinguish the flames as the house was rather large.

It was past midnight when they got back to the station. Dean stripped his outer gear and headed for the showers. Long sessions like that were his least favorite. He always felt gross and sweaty.

At five, Dean left the station and headed home. He was ready for a power nap.

He parked his baby in the dark parking garage and entered the building.

Dean walked up to his apartment and noticed a note stuck to his door. He took it down and skimmed through it.

 

_Dean_

_I know I won't be able to say it enough, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the words I said and the attitude I exuded the last time I was here. I was being an ass and I regret every second. Hopefully, we can watch each other move passed this._

_Cas_

 

Dean had mixed emotions about the note. He was a little pissed Cas didn't have the balls to say this to his face, but he was relieved to know Cas had gotten his head screwed on straight.

Dean was confused as to why Cas had underlined the word watch. He shrugged it off and opened the door. He was shocked to find the place practically spotless.

 

No, it _was_ spotless.

 

Dean walked to the living room and saw another note attached to the television. So that's what he meant when he underlined watch. Dean grabbed the note and scanned over it.

 

_Dean_

_If you're wondering how I got in here, need I remind you of the day Jo found me, naked, on your couch?_

_Anyway, I'm sorry for ignoring your favorite show (Dr. Sexy, M.D. Yes, I remembered), and more importantly, you. I was being an absolute ass. I realized this about ten minutes after you threw me out. I'm so sorry. Hopefully what I've said isn't too much to swallow. _

_Cas_

 

Swallow. Dean's first thought was the bedroom, but he laughed at himself when he figured out Cas meant the kitchen. Could you blame him for having a dirty mind?

He walked to the kitchen and found a third note on the fridge.

 

_Dean_

_Hopefully by now I've made a dent in making it up to you. I know this won't be enough but I'm hoping its a start. Again, I'm sorry. Open the fridge._

_Cas_

 

Dean obeyed the note and found a jug of apple juice on the shelf. His laugh took him by surprise. There was a sticky note on the bottle.

 

_Dean_

_Did I make you smile? If I did, then that's the best thing I've done all week. Spiked apple juice was what brought us together, so maybe it'll do the trick this time. I hope this will all wash away soon. _

_Cas_

 

Ok, the bastard knew he'd smile. Why did that make Dean feel so goddamn _fuzzy_ inside? He reread the note. Washed. Dean started moving towards the bathroom.

He found a note on the mirror above the sink.

 

_Dean_

_You're the most handsome man I have ever laid eyes on. Don't believe me? Look up._

 

Dean looked up into the mirror and immediately felt stupid, Cas's notes had made him blush like a twelve year old girl. He drew his eyes back to the note.

 

_The first time I saw you, I was mortified that my first impression was a klutz buying condoms. Then, being the good samaritan you were, you gave me a lift home. I'm glad we kept running into each other after that. Maybe we could work on our pillow talk instead of me working on my laptop. _

_Cas_

 

Ok, so those notes were giving Cas an advantage here. Dean walked to his bedroom and found a note on the pillow.

 

_Dean_

_I'm sorry for letting my work come before you. I'm sorry for making you sleep alone. I'm sorry for the cruel and completely untrue words I spoke. I should have never degraded your profession. I'm sorry for this past week in general. I love you, and I hope you can still love me. Hopefully some time in the future, when this bed is used, there are two bodies occupying it. Let this note be the front door to forgiveness. _

_Cas_

 

Dean was _not_ tearing up. He wasn't. It was just....dust. He took a few deep breaths and reread the note a few times. He followed the underlined words to the front door.

 

_Dean_

_If you can forgive me (and I pray to God you can), knock twice._

_Cas_

 

Dean was confused. Why would he knock on the inside of his own front door? Well, the notes had gotten him this far. He raised his fist and gave two solid knocks.

"Who is it?" Came a falsetto answer. Dean swung the door open to a bashful looking Cas.

"Thank God," Cas whispered under his breath.

Not a second later, Cas was aware of pain on his left cheek. He put a hand across it to soothe the sting. "

Ok, I deserved that." Cas admitted. Next, he was being enveloped in a hug.

"You deserve this, too." Dean whispered into Cas's ear. They both walked back into Dean's apartment. They sat next to each other on the couch.

"I see you got my notes." Cas said looking at the stack of paper on the coffee table. Dean smiled. "I'm sorry," Cas said.

"I forgive you." Dean replied. Cas let out a relieved exhale.

"I have some good news, then. I figured out all of the paperwork Zachariah was dumping on me was purely for his own satisfaction. My father had nothing to do with it, which was the whole reason I was putting up with it in the first place. I chewed out Zachariah, so I won't have to deal with him for a while. I know I'm making him a scapegoat, but without added work stress, I feel like we can talk more freely." Cas explained.

"That's awesome, Cas. Well, not the bogus paperwork but the fact that it stopped. And about the talking, as much as I hate gushing about feelings, if we want to avoid this in the future, talking is gonna be a priority." Dean said, dejected that he has to now talk about feelings instead of having make up sex. You know what they say, make up sex is the best sex.

"Yeah," Cas said, yawning forcefully. "But first how about we sleep a little. I'm pretty worn out." Cas suggested.

"Totally," Dean said, yawning as well. He couldn't help it, yawns were contagious. He leaned in and placed a chaste kiss to Cas's lips.

"Thank you," Dean whispered, "for the notes. For everything."

"I'm sorry." Cas whispered back against Dean's lips, carding his hand through the short strands.

"You're forgiven. Now let's sleep." Dean said, grabbing Cas's hand and leading him to the bedroom.

 

 

•

 

 

Dean blinked his eyes open to a sleeping Cas. His dark hair was unruly as always. Dean raked his eyes over Cas's bare chest, stopping where the blanket hid the rest of his body just under his belly button. Dean leaned down and placed a feather light kiss to Cas's cheek. He moved down to his neck, his shoulders, his chest. He went back up and kissed Cas on the mouth, causing him to wake up.

Cas exhaled after the kiss.

"Hello, Dean." He said hoarsely. Dean smiled and leaned back down, covering his boyfriend's mouth with his own. Cas placed his hands on Dean's hips and pulled him on top of himself.

"Pleasant dream?" Dean asked, wiggling his hips slightly, causing Cas to let out an involuntary moan.

"Mmm...most definitely. But the real thing is so much better." Cas replied, rising up to kiss Dean again. Dean grinned into the kiss and his hand traveled down to remove Cas's offending pants. Well, technically they were Dean's but either way, he wanted them off.

After they were both stripped down to nothing, Dean kissed Cas once more before flipping him over. He trailed kisses down Cas's back, the shorter man moaning and searched for friction with the sheets. Dean's heat above him vanished for a moment before Cas felt a slicked up finger near his hole.

"Mmm, Dean," he moaned into the pillow. Dean pressed one finger in, going torturously slow. He pulled it out, then pushed it back in. After a few thrusts, he added a second finger and started scissoring Cas open. Dean leaned down to whisper into Cas's ear.

"You like that Cas? Do my fingers feel good inside you?" He asked.

"Yes, Dean." Cas answered.

"Mm, but wait. I thought I was just a _fireman_." He punctuated his sentence with pressure to Cas's prostate. Cas cried out in pleasure and bit down on the pillow.

"I...didn't m...mean it Dean. I...I'm sorry." Cas said breathlessly, Dean's fingers causing a fog in his mind. Dean added a third finger, keeping his pace nice and slow. The exact opposite of what Cas needed right then.

Dean lifted Cas's hips to raised his ass in the air for a better angle. Cas whimpered at the loss of pressure the bed was putting on his cock.

Finally, Dean removed his fingers and slowly slid into Cas. The dark haired man moaned Dean's name and wantonly pushed himself back onto Dean.

Dean gripped Cas's hips and slowly pulled out before thrusting sharply into Cas, making him see stars. Dean didn't let up for what seemed like ages for Cas. Then, just as Cas could feel his orgasm upon him, Dean slowed down to shallow thrusts that felt divine but just weren't _enough_.

"Deeaann, please," Cas whined. Dean ran a hand through Cas's hair and leaned down.

"Please what?" He asked, a smirk on his face as he kept up the torturously slow pace.

"Please just fuck me so I won't be able to walk straight." Cas pleaded.

"As you wish." Dean said simply before straightening his back and grabbed Cas's hips once again. He started with a few slow thrusts, but quickly picked up the pace, snapping in and out of Cas with vigor. He reached around and jacked Cas in time with his thrusts. Soon, all Cas could see was white as he came hard on the sheets, crying out Dean's name.

As Cas clenched around Dean, the taller man thrusted twice more and unloaded, spilling everything into Cas.

Dean pulled out and reached for a shirt that was lying around to clean up as best he could. Cas had collapsed onto the bed, feeling boneless. Dean slumped next to him and pulled Cas onto his chest. He carded his hand through the hopelessly messy hair as they caught their breath.

"I love you, Dean." Cas said.

"I love you, too, babe." Dean said before kissing the top of Cas's head.

 

 

•

 

 

Throughout the day, they barely left the bed. They only took breaks to eat and pee, and they'd taken a shower together at one point. It was absolute bliss.

Then, Dean woke up to the buzzing of his alarm.

It was already four in the morning. Cas was wrapped around him as always, snoring lightly.

"Cas, babe, I gotta get up." Dean whispered and he tried to disentangle himself from the clingy octopus that was his boyfriend.

"How may times do I have to tell you no?" Cas asked petulantly, squeezing Dean tighter, burrowing into Dean's side. Dean huffed a laugh.

"C'mon, I'm gonna be late. And just think, in two months, my schedule changes from full day shifts starting at five to full day shifts starting at nine." He said, managing to slip out of Cas's embrace. He hated that he had to, but there was a duty he needed to serve. He hopped in the shower and washed off any proof of their Saturday wrapped around each other. He cursed that this was a Sunday-On week. Another day in bed with Cas would've been amazing.

He got out of the shower and got dressed in the dark of his room. After that, he kissed Cas one more time.

"Remember, we still have to talk about shit," Cas mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah, when you're at least half conscious and I have more than ten minutes to spare." Dean retorted.

With that, he was off to work.

 

 

•

 

 

Cas woke up again a few hours later. He sighed when he realized Dean had left and he didn't just dream that. He also felt very sore. He walked stiffly into the bathroom to take his own shower. After that he gathered his clothes and drove home, a smile on his face. When he reached his apartment, he pulled out his phone and walked carefully to his bedroom for fresh clothes. He dialed his friend's number.

_"Hello?"_

"Hi, Balthazar."

 _"Cassie, darling, how's life?"_ The British man asked. Cas smiled as he put his friend on speaker and started undressing.

"Pretty great, Balthazar. A little sore, but how are you?"

 _"Wonderful. I hope your soreness is from working things out with your boy toy."_ He said with a wink Cas couldn't see.

"Yes, Balthazar, Dean and I...made up. Thank you for knocking some sense into me."

_"Anytime, Cassie. I'm glad to hear things are going good. You're much more fun when you're well fucked. That way, you're not brooding."_

"Jesus, Blathazar." Cas replied, pulling a shirt on and walking to his kitchen.

 _"Anyway, if you'll excuse me there's a beautiful girl in the other room. Thanks for keeping me in touch."_ Cas laughed. It was always short and sweet with him.

"I'll see you later, Balthazar. Don't hurt the poor girl."

 _"Oh, piss off, I treat all of my lovers well."_ And with that Balthazar was off the line. Cas smiled to himself.

 

Things were looking up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the way Cas cleans up his messes. 
> 
> Thank you for keeping up with me so far. Track is starting up so I won't have as much time to write. Bear with me here. 
> 
> Thanks again. Kudos and comments are welcome.


	12. Dunk Tank Dystopia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for such a long break, it seems my personal life decided to take a shit on me. This chapter is a little short, but bear with me, I'll make it up. Things are better now so I should be getting into a more frequent posting schedule. Thanks for keeping up :]

When Dean returned home Tuesday morning, he called Cas, disregarding the early hour. It rang for a long time before a disoriented voice came through. 

_“Dean?”_

“Morning, sleepyhead.” Dean greeted.

 _“Not that I don’t love your voice; but at five in the morning? Is something wrong?”_ Cas asked. Dean heard shifting around on the other end of the line. 

“No, nothing’s wrong, don’t get ruffled up. I just wanted to check it." 

 _"Oh, ok. Well, thank you.”_ Castiel said before yawning loudly. 

“Alright, I’ll leave you alone. But do you want to come over after work? We could-” Dean cringed internally before finishing, “talk about it.”

Cas laughed at the obvious discontent Dean had towards voicing his feelings. _“I’d love to. Get some rest and I’ll call you during lunch if I can."_

"Awesome. Love you, Cas.”

_“I love you, too, Dean. Bye.”_

Dean hung up and went to shower before crawling into bed. 

 

  
•

 

  
He woke up to his ringtone and focused his eyes on the clock while answered. It was already noon. 

“Hello?” Dean was surprised that he didn’t sound like he just woke up. 

 _“Hello, Dean. How are you?”_ Cas asked. 

“I’m good, how ‘bout you?” He answered as he drew back the covers and went to the kitchen for some cereal. Castiel contemplated his answer. 

 _“Good, now that Zachariah stays out of my line of sight.”_ Cas smiled at that achievement. 

“That’s good. So I’m assuming you’re on your lunch break.” Dean said, taking a bite of his late breakfast. 

_"Yes, I am. Are you eating as well? I hear crunching."_

"Uh, yeah. Cereal.” Dean answered, mouth still half full. 

_“For lunch?”_

“I, uh…just woke up.” Dean explained. 

 _“Oh. Could’ve fooled me, your voice wasn’t rough like it usually is.”_ Cas observed. 

And wow, Dean felt something akin to giddy that Cas knew what he sounded like first thing in the morning.

 “Yeah, well….wait. Cas? What day is it?” Dean asked, squinting at the calendar on his fridge.

_“Tuesday. Why?”_

“Oh, good. The summer bash I told you about is this weekend."

  _"Is it?”_ Dean heard a crunch on the other end of the line. 

“Yeah. Hey, what are you eating?” Dean asked. 

 _“A salad?”_ Cas said uncertainty. 

“Are you asking me or telling me?” Dean chuckled. “And rabbit food? Who are you, my brother?” He teased.

_“Salad is good for you, Dean. We all can’t eat whatever we want and still look like you.”_

“Oh, so you’re saying I look good?” Dean asked cheekily. 

 _“You’re incorrigible.”_ Cas laughed. _“I have to finish up here. Expect me around 5:30. I love you."_

"Alright, see you then. Love you, too." 

They hung up and Dean finished off his cereal before muddling around, waiting for Cas. 

 

  
•

 

  
Castiel hung up the phone and got back to work. Things were as peaceful as they get in a CEO’s office. At five, Castiel clocked out and headed to his own apartment to change. After that, he headed straight to Dean’s place.   
Dean opened the door with a wide smile and placed his palm on the door frame. Cas slipped in under Dean’s outstretched arm. 

"Hey,” Dean protested. “You didn’t give me the password.” He added as he shut the door and followed Cas into the living room. Cas gave an amused smile.

“Password?” He asked as he sat on the couch. Dean followed him down and planted a sweet kiss to his lips. 

“Oh. That password,” Cas said. Dean chuckled and pecked him again on the lips. 

“Alright,” Dean started, “I don’t know how to do this.” Dean said a little nervously. Cas smiled and turned on the TV for background noise. 

“Well, if you want to get this out of the way as much as I do, let’s get started. I think we need to be completely honest with each other if one of us is acting like a child.” He suggested. 

“And we need to listen and put ourselves in check without the fear of being yelled at by the other.” Cas finished. 

“Sounds great. So if one of us throws a tantrum, just bring up this conversation and hopefully it’ll stop.” Dean nodded to himself and flashed a grin at Castiel. “Now, I don’t have to be anywhere until five a.m.” Dean said with a wink. 

“Well, then let’s get this show on the road.” Cas grinned and kissed Dean deeply. 

 

  
•

 

  
The week passed by quickly. Soon enough, Saturday rolled around and Dean found himself at the annual summer bash. 

“Dean! Get over here, you’re manning the dunk tank!” Rufus shouted.

“I have to hand out baseballs to the kids?” Dean asked, he would’ve much rather been at the pie stand. 

“No, son. You get to get dunked.” Rufus said, his voice the closest to gleeful as Dean had ever heard it. The other man clapped his hand on Dean’s shoulder and wandered around, greeting families.   
“Look who’s the dunk tank dummy this year,” Meg leered. “I’ll be over there selling pastries.” She laughed maniacally and and left Dean to envy her.

 He sighed and resigned himself to a day of wet clothes and bitter hatred toward anyone who even went _near_ the pie stand. 

Three hours and countless times getting dunked, Dean spotted Cas in the crowd. He called over for a relief victim before grabbing a towel and heading over the greet Cas. 

The dark haired man spotted Dean as he hoisted himself out of a dunk tank. Cas didn’t know how long Dean had been subjected to such torture, but he knew his boyfriend was smoking hot when dripping wet. He watched as Dean ran a towel through his soaked hair and over his bare chest. Suddenly, Cas wished they were somewhere less public. 

Dean stepped up to Cas with a grin.

“Hey, Cas. How long ya been here?” Dean asked. Cas swallowed and processed Dean’s question. 

“Couple minutes.” He answered distractedly, blatantly staring at the water droplets as they raced down Dean’s chest. 

“Hey,” Dean said, snapping to get Cas’s attention, “my eyes are up here.” He laughed and pecked Cas on the cheek before grabbing his hand and leading him around the park.

They stopped when they reached a short brunet man with a dum dum in his mouth and an other big, blue eyed man wearing a boot on his foot. 

“Cas this is Gabe,” he said, pointing to the short one, “and Benny.” He finished. Cas shook both of their hands and smiled. 

“Hello, I’m Castiel.” He greeted. 

“Oh, so _you’re_ Castiel, huh?” Gabe said, smirking around his dum dum. 

“ _Gabe_ ,” Dean said in a warning tone. 

“What? I haven’t done anything,” he said, raising his hands in mock surrender. 

“And you won’t.” Dean said. 

“Well, it’s nice to put a face to the name, y'know, without the smoke and grime,” Benny interjected. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”

Dean blushed slightly and looked around for more people to introduce Cas to. He found his opportunity with Jo.

 “Hey, look, there’s Jo. Bye guys, see you around.” Dean said as he grabbed Cas’s hand a pulled him over to the blonde woman.

“Jo, I formally introduce you to Cas.” Dean said. Jo grinned wide and blew past Cas’s outstretched hand to envelop him in a hug. Cas awkwardly returned it after a beat. 

“Nice to see you with clothes on, hot stuff,” she said with a wink. Cas’s face grew red. 

“Jo! Be nice!” Dean chastised. She laughed and turned back to Cas. 

“It really is nice to meet you,” she said, giving a pointed look to Dean as if to say _see, I can play nice._  

“Dean! What are you doing out of the dunk tank, it’s not supper time yet.” Rufus bellowed. Dean sighed and rolled his eyes. 

“I guess I’ve got to spend the entire day in that damn tank,” Dean said dejectedly. He gave Cas a hopeless shrug and made his way back to his station. 

“So, Castiel,” Jo leered, “how about I show you around?” She proposed. Cas really didn’t have an excuse not to, so he followed her as she introduced him to more people. 

The more time Cas spent with her, the more confused he became. Should he be afraid of her? Should he be friends with her? Should he duck and hide any time someone mentioned her name? It was truly exhausting. 

Jo led them away from the crowd. They climbed a hill to find a red headed girl sitting on a bench with a laptop. 

“Hey, Charlie! Have you met Dean’s new boy toy?” Jo asked. 

“I’d prefer it if you’d stop calling me that,” Cas said to Jo, “Although it _is_ better than sexy condom guy,” he added under his breath. He quickly turned to Charlie. “How are you, I’m Castiel,” he said to the redhead as they shook hands.   
“I’m doing great. The view of this thing from up here is phenomenal. I wish I would’ve brought my good camera. I’m stuck taking pictures with my phone.” She lamented. Cas sat next to her on the bench and they carried on easy conversation. Jo had to return to her post at the front entrance, so Cas and Charlie were left alone. 

“So, Cas, not to be frank, but what are your intentions with Dean? He might act all tough on the outside but I know him better than anyone at the station. I’ve seen him at his lowest; and that better _stay_ his lowest.” She warned. “I’m not gonna stand by and watch things go to shit. Again.”

“Charlie, I have zero intention of hurting Dean in any way. I love him. He’s the best thing to walk into my life and, believe me, I’m not letting go anytime soon.” He confessed. “I’m not letting go _ever_." 

She smiled at him. "Good answer,” she said. They went back to easy conversation until Dean was honorably discharged from his watery hell. He spotted them and made his way up to their bench. Most of the games were finishing up to get ready for the dance and fireworks. It wasn’t a summer bash without fireworks. 

Faint music could be heard on top of the quiet hill. Dean approached the two on the bench with a smile. 

“I’m free!” He proclaimed happily, spreading his arms out to further prove his point. The two on the bench laughed with him. Dean held out his hand for his boyfriend and Cas took it, promptly being pulled into Dean’s personal space. 

“May I have this dance?” Dean asked, a glint in his eyes. 

“Of course,” Cas answered. 

They swayed a little off beat to Maroon 5’s 'Love Somebody’. It was perfect. At the end of the song, Dean leaned in and kissed Cas long and sweet. 

“Ugh, get a room. I can handle the dancing, but macking in my presence is unacceptable,” she told them. 

“Sorry, your royal highness,” Dean apologized sarcastically with a comical bow. Cas looked confused but chalked it up to an inside joke of theirs. 

“So,” Charlie said, “now that you’ve finally got yourself a boyfriend, let’s say we do a double date,” she suggested. Dean pondered it and turned to Cas. 

“You wouldn’t mind a dinner with a couple of strangers, would ya?” He asked. 

“I’ve no problem with it. Who’s this other stranger?” Cas asked. 

“My girlfriend, Gilda.” Charlie answered. Castiel would be lying if he said he didn’t think Charlie was at least bi. He smiled at his functioning _gaydar._  

“Sounds lovely,” he replied. 

 

“I like him,” Charlie said to herself, “now I know at least _one_ person around here with manners.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your feedback is awesome! :]


	13. Past and Present

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry again that this took so long. I've been really busy, and if I'm honest, just not motivated enough to write. But I found some free time and decided to make the most of it. 
> 
> Warnings: house fire. Minor character death. Mentions of homophobia and depression. (Very brief)

The next few weeks flew by and many things changed. Dean's schedule being the most dramatic. Now, starting at 9, he had a much more reasonable sleep schedule, opening the doors for more quality time with Cas and the crew.

During this time, Cas and Charlie became very good friends. 'Best friends' as Charlie often referred to them. They bonded over Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Cas always got an earful of her LARPing activities. She even invited him to come participate whenever he had the chance.

That Tuesday, Dean and Cas were on their double date with Charlie and Gilda.

"So, how've you two been?" Dean asked conversationally. The two girls shared a look and smiled, answering together that they've been doing great.

"And you two," Charlie responded, "how long have you crazy kids been going out?" She asked.

"Well, _mom_ , today is our three month anniversary," Dean said proudly. Cas looked up at him with glinting eyes.

"Yes it is," Cas confirmed. He didn't know it had already been three months. It felt so short while also seeming like they've been together forever. Cas threaded his fingers through Dean's and smiled. "Well, happy anniversary," Cas said with a kiss on Dean's lips.

"Ok, ok, gross. I regret asking," Charlie complained. They all laughed and carried on easy conversation for the rest of the evening. Around eleven, they called it a night and went to their respective homes.

"Well," Dean said when they were in the car, "since it's our three month anniversary, I thought I'd get you something." He handed Cas a small silver key.

"Is this to your apartment?" Cas asked.

"Yeah, I want you to feel at home there. And I'm not around a lot, so I thought, hey why don't I just give you the key? So I got this one made and...yeah," Dean rambled.

"Thank you Dean. It's perfect," Cas leaned over and kissed Dean. "Now why don't we get home so I can show you how much I appreciate the gift," Cas whispered into Dean's ear.

They were home in record time.

Dean barely got a chance to close the door before he was being pushed against it, attacked by Castiel. Their mouths met and it tasted like heaven. Dean grabbed Cas's hips and fought with him for dominance. It wasn't much of a fight, Cas had made it clear who was in charge back in the car. And damn if Dean didn't find it hot as fuck.

Cas impatiently instructed, when they came up for air, to move to the bedroom. Dean quickly obliged, stripping his jacket and kicking his shoes off through the hallway. Cas followed suit, and before long, Cas had Dean pinned to the bed, a layer of clothing separating them from absolute bliss.

Dean, honest to God, whined about the amount of clothes they had on.

"Oh really?" Cas asked coyly. "Impatient are we?" He asked with a dark grin.

"Well, whose fault is that? I'm not the one who couldn't keep their hands to themselves in the car." Dean pointed out.

"Well, if you want to _slow down,_ " Cas said with a teasing smirk, "then by all means, we can," he said, standing up and slowly unbuttoning his shirt, making very suggestive eye contact. Dean sat up on his elbows and watched, conflicted. He wanted to watch Cas take it all off nice and slow, but at the same time, he craved Cas's touch. He decided to strip off his own shirt and smiled at Cas's obvious stare. Dean reached for his zipper, but Cas slapped his hands away.

"I don't think so," Cas chastised, wagging his finger at Dean. The man on the bed threw his head back and groaned, part frustration, part lust.

"C'mon Cas!" Dean pleaded. The dark haired man took mercy on him and unzipped Dean's jeans, pulling them completely off.

"Crawl up the bed," he commanded. Dean followed Cas's directions and rested his head on the pillows. Cas crawled up between his legs and shot Dean a mischievous look before mouthing at Dean's erection through his boxers.

"Fuck, Cas," Dean moaned. Cas quickly removed Dean's underwear and got straight back to work, licking a long stripe up the underside of Dean's cock. He quickly swallowed him down, not stopping until his nose hit wiry hair.

"Jesus fuck! Cas, holy shit," Dean shouted. Cas just hummed in response, lighting Dean's nerves on fire with the vibrations. Cas bobbed up and down, Dean could feel himself hit the back of Cas's throat each time. It was taking all of Dean's self restraint to not just fuck into Cas's mouth.

"You keep this up, I'm not gonna last too much longer," Dean warned. Cas pulled off and wiped his chin.

"As much as that would please me, I have other plans for tonight," Cas said, climbing off of Dean and into the closet.

"Caaas," Dean complained, running his hands through his hair. This man was going to kill him. How could he be so cruel as to leave Dean dripping, fully erect. Cas emerged out of the closet, wearing only boxers. Dean approved of the new outfit. Then he noticed something in Cas's hands.

"Is that one of my ties?" Dean asked.

"Hmm, very observant." Cas complimented. "Now put your hands above your head," he ordered. Dean followed with enthusiasm.

"Mmm, gonna tie me up, huh?" Dean asked cheekily. "What else are ya gonna do?" He asked.

"You'll see," Cas said mysteriously as he fastened Dean's wrists to the head board.

"Cas, you know how to make a man feel all hot and bothered," Dean said with a wink. Cas smirked and shed his boxers.

"Finally," Dean whispered.

Cas climbed back on the bed and resumed kissing Dean, sliding his hand up and down Dean's chest. Dean wanted so bad to touch Cas, but his restrictions rendered him incapable. Instead, he moaned and bucked up into Cas, relishing the friction between them. Cas broke the kiss in favor of sucking on Dean's neck, biting roughly before smoothing it over with his tongue. Cas hoped Charlie would notice his handiwork tomorrow. He moved on, trailing kisses down Dean's chest and taking a nipple into him mouth. Dean moaned at the contact and muttered a string of encouragements. Soon enough, Cas found himself back to Dean's aching cock. He grinned and swirled his tongue around the head before going up slightly and biting at Dean's hip bones. God, Cas could spend hours worshiping this man's body.

But, alas, Cas grew impatient and shed his boxers, giving himself a few pumps to make up for the neglect his cock was receiving tonight. Dean moaned at the sight of Cas jerking himself off. That caught Cas's attention and then he was back on Dean, fusing their mouths together.

"Mmm, I can't wait to ride you until I make you scream," Cas growled into Dean's ear. Dean just bucked up, hoping to get this show on the road. Cas slid off of Dean once again, reaching for the bedside table. Once he retrieved the small bottle of lube, he sat on Dean's stomach and bit his lip.

"Now, how do I want to do this?" He asked. "I could lay beside you and open myself up while we continue to make out. Or I could lay on the opposite side of the bed and give you a show," Cas suggested, playing each scenario out in his mind.

"I don't care babe, but I'm dyin' over here," Dean said, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.

"We'll go with option number two then," Cas said, positioning himself into prime viewing location for Dean. They were both quite impatient by the time Cas started opening himself up. Cas exaggerated his moans to get Dean begging. Soon enough, Dean was running his mouth, begging Cas to ride him already. He was even making threats to keep Cas tied up and waiting some day. Cas pushed his tempo and he was grinding down his fingers, trying desperately to find that spot inside him that turned his bones into jelly. When he found it, he shouted out Dean's name, frustrating the hell out of the restrained man.

"I'm right here, for the love of god, just fuck me already," Dean pleaded. Cas rolled over and smirked at Dean.

"As you wish," he said, crawling on top of Dean and kissing him before positioning himself above Dean. Slowly, he slid down onto Dean's heavily neglected cock. The tied man moaned loudly, finally being enveloped into that tight, glorious hole.

"Holy fuck," Dean hissed, watching his cock disappear into Cas. He looked up into his lover's eyes, seeing adoration, lust, bliss, and so much more. Once fully seated, Cas leaned down and kissed Dean passionately. After adjusting, he slowly started to move his hips in circles, causing Dean to buck up a little for more.

"Please, Cas. I need you," Dean whispered into Cas's mouth. Cas started gaining speed, gliding up and down on Dean's cock, ripping moans from the both of them.

"Don't stop Cas, please. Never stop," Dean plead, pulling on his restraints as he tried to put his hands on Cas. He growled in frustration and pounded up into Cas, causing the man on top of him to curse loudly and encourage more.

"Yes, Dean, right there, keep going," Cas moaned, grabbing onto Dean's shoulders for purchase. It wasn't long before it was all too much and Dean screamed Cas's name as he came, spurt after spurt, emptying everything he had into Cas. As Cas felt the man beneath him shutter with absolute pleasure, he couldn't hold back anymore and came, making a mess on Dean's sweaty chest. He collapsed after that, breathing heavy and sweating hard. After they had a chance to catch their breath, Dean chuckled.

"Damn, Cas. That was the best sex I've ever had," he said, trying to wrap his arms around Cas before realizing he was still tied to the bed.

"Agreed," Cas said, chuckling into Dean's neck. He got up and went to the bathroom to retrieve a washcloth. After cleaning up their mess, he untied Dean, making a stop to turn off the lights before settling back into Dean's side.

"I'm gonna have to wear a long sleeve shirt tomorrow," Dean complained."Do you know how much shit I'm gonna get from Charlie?" He asked. Cas just laughed and snuggled closer into Dean.

"I'm sure it was worth it," Cas mumbled.

"Hell yeah it was," Dean laughed.

"Goodnight Dean," Cas said as his eyelids drooped.

"'Night Cas. I love you," Dean whispered.

"Love you too," he replied. Dean kissed the top of Cas's head and fell asleep.

 

 

•

 

 

Dean, true to his word, wore a long sleeve shirt to work the following morning. The marks on his wrists had faded slightly, but they were still noticeable. He decided to feign exhaustion and hide in his bed.

That plan worked...until he got hungry.

He looked around to see who was asleep and saw Gabe and Jo in their respective cots. Benny still wasn't cleared to work with his leg, but he popped in every now and again. Dean hoped today wouldn't be one of those days.

Dean quietly got out of bed and padded over to the kitchen. The coast was clear and he got to work making a sandwich. He didn't notice the door open and a red head slip in. He reached up to grab a plate out of the cupboard and his sleeves fell a few inches.

"Oh my god, Dean! What hell are those!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Jesus! Charlie, don't sneak up on me!" Dean yelled. She ignored his comment and marched over to him. She grabbed his wrist and hiked up his sleeve.

"Dean Winchester, are these what I think they are?" Charlie asked. Dean's face turned bright red.

"That depends on what you think they are," Dean said carefully. She looked up at him, but he couldn't decipher her emotions. Then, she smiled, her eyebrows nearly reached her hair line.

"I didn't know Cas was such a kinky bastard," she said. "Or, you, for that matter," she winked and went back into the TV room, laughing to whole way. Dean cursed to himself and ate his sandwich.

 

 

•

 

 

A few days later, Cas and he were watching TV, Dean's arm was slung on the back of the couch and Cas was leaning into him. It had been a relatively normal week, although Cas felt like something was amiss. Dean seemed to close in on himself and Cas, for the life of him, couldn't figure out why. He entertained the idea that Dean's mood was brought on by something _he_ did. But Cas trusted that Dean would tell him if something was wrong. Right? He decided to clear the air sooner rather than later.

"Hey Dean?" Cas asked, pulling their attention away from the screen. "Have you been feeling alright?" He asked concernedly.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. Everything's great," he said with a tight grin.

"You're lying. Don't deny it, I know all of your tells," Castiel said. "What's going on?" He asked gently. Dean retracted his arm from the back of the couch and rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's nothing, I'll be fine. Trust me," Dean answered.

"Dean," Cas said quietly, "tell me what's wrong," he requested.

"It's just...the Forth of July is coming up and I hate it so much because people are stupid and we get so busy and there are so many fires and people blow stuff up in their hands and I just...I hate the Forth of July," he rushed out. He struggled to get out his next sentence. "And, God, I just _hate_ that day."

"I know this is probably a stupid question, but would it be at all possible for you to get the day off?" Cas asked carefully. Dean huffed what sounded like it should've been a laugh.

"You think I haven't tried? Every firefighter in the country is on duty that day," Dean said. I'll just have to power through it, like every other year," he lamented, resigning himself to the horrors of the Forth.

After a moment, he spoke again.

"Um, Cas. I need to tell you something," Dean said carefully. Cas tried to control his fear but those words shook him to his core.

"Go on, babe, I'm listening," he said gently, surprising himself by how steady his voice was.

"I...I told you that my parents weren't around anymore. Well, it was...they got..." He took a deep breath, "they died on the fourth," Dean said. He didn't know why he still got so emotional, it happened such a long time ago, but you never really get over something like this. Cas took his hands and squeezed, letting Dean sort out his thoughts.

"When I was eight, my parents threw this huge forth of July party. Like, _huge_. And when it was time for fireworks, Sammy, me and a few friends went over to an open field to get a better view of the show. Well, right before they started, my parents had gone inside for...God knows what. Well, the fireworks malfunctioned or something and shot straight into the kitchen. Right where my parents were. There was this bright light, a big boom, and awful screams. I ran as fast as I could towards the house and I saw...." Dean trailed off, choking back a sob. Cas gathered him closer and smoothed his hand over his back. After Dean had collected himself enough to continue, he pushed through. "I saw two figures in the kitchen fall and...and I knew who they were but I didn't want to believe it. I tried to run in, but one of my neighbors picked me up and made me get away from the blaze. I was scratching and screaming, trying to claw my way towards the house. But it was too late. They were gone." He said solemnly.

Cas pulled him close and hugged him tight. Dean hid his face in Cas's neck and just cried. He felt stupid, weeping about this when it happened almost twenty years ago.

"Oh, Dean. That's awful. I'm so sorry to hear about it," Cas said, dumbfounded. How had he not heard about this at all? He guessed that just showed how new this relationship really was.

"Yeah," Dean croaked out. "I went into a very deep depression after that. I wouldn't talk to anyone, I even shut Sammy out. My godparents, Bobby and Ellen, tried to stick me in therapy, but I told them it was just a waste of time and money because I wasn't gonna share my life story with some shrink. I knew they meant well, but I was eight." Dean huffed a humorless laugh.

"By the time I was a junior in high school, I had lost track of the amount of girlfriends I'd had. I guess it was my way of coping, hooking up and trying to get noticed. But I never stuck around. I always pushed them away, whether it was intentional or not. Then things got confusing. This new guy, Noah, transferred in. It was weird. I just felt this strange _attraction_ towards him. He was handsome. He had dark, curly hair and strong facial structures. I couldn't help it. I started hanging around him a lot, and we actually become really close. One night, I don't know what came over me, but I kissed him," Dean shook his head and covered his face in his hands.

"He was a good sport about it," Dean said, words muffled by his hands. He sat up and sighed. "He pushed me back and gently let me down. But he helped me figure out that I could like guys as well as girls. In a way, he helped me discover myself. I know that sounds dumb but I don't know how else to explain it," Dean said.

"That sounds wonderful. He seems like a great friend. Why don't you two talk anymore?" Cas asked. A sad look clouded over Dean's face.

"His dad found out about the kiss and was a total asshole about it. He didn't even give Noah the chance to explain himself before he was being shipped off to some boarding school. I never heard from his again." He said.

"I'm sorry to hear that. He seemed like a great guy." Cas said.

"Yeah, well. The world will never be short of bigoted assholes," Dean quipped. "But, yeah. Noah also kind of helped me see that I wanted to be a fireman. Like, I always had this thought in the back of my head that if I could save _one_ child from having to lose anyone to a fire like me, then it'd be worth it. He took that idea and made me act on it. When he was shipped off, I vowed to carry out my dreams, for him," Dean said.

"And you did," Cas added. Dean smiled at his boyfriend.

"And I did."


	14. Fearing the Fourth

_"Cassie, darling, what are you up to tomorrow?"_ A British voice floated through Cas's phone.

"Well, Dean has to work...so nothing, really," Cas answered.

 _"You're going to do nothing on the Fourth of July?"_ He asked incredulously.

"Well, I've never really care for parties and I thought-"

 _"You're coming with me, Cassie. Honestly, you think I'd let one of my best friends stay in on the Fourth of July? I'm not even American and I'm celebrating!"_ Balthazar said.

"Um, thanks? I guess. Where will we be-" he was cut off once again.

 _"I'll pick you up around five then. Until then,"_ Balthazar bid adieu and hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Dean asked as he sat next to Cas on the couch. He picked up a piece of popcorn and threw it up in the air before catching it in his mouth. Cas rolled his eyes fondly and replied.

"Balthazar. He invited me to a...well something I assume. He didn't really let me know what we're doing," Cas said.

"Oh, sounds fun," Dean said while clicking on a movie to watch. Cas cuddled in closer and snacked on some popcorn. Dean slung his arm over the back of the couch and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. This would be the last time he would be able to relax until after the forth. Cas rested his head on Dean's shoulder and took a few pieces of popcorn. They were about halfway through the movie when Dean spoke up.

"Uh, Cas? C-could you scoot over a bit?" He asked in a rough voice.

"Why?" Cas asked back.

"Well, I tried to ignore it, but you breathing on my neck..." He trailed off. Cas looked down from Dean's blushing cheeks to see an obvious tent forming in the front of his pants.

"Oh. _Oh!_ So you want me to stop doing this?" Cas said as he licked a stripe up the side of Dean's neck before blowing cool air over it.

"C-cas, no don't stop," he pleaded. Cas took the invitation and swung one leg over Dean's lap and straddled his waist. He leaned in close but didn't kiss Dean quite yet.

"I love you," Cas said in the quiet moment. Before Dean could reply, Cas's mouth was on his in fierce passion.

"Damn Cas," Dean commented when they had a short pause in their kissing, "what's gotten into you?"

"Need I remind you who started this?" Cas asked.

"Yeah, it was _you_!" Dean replied.

"How on earth is this _my_ fault?" Cas asked.

"Well, because you-"

" _Well, because_ ," Cas mocked in a high pitched voice, "just kiss me, Winchester," he growled. Dean wasted no time complying. He threaded his fingers through Cas's hair and kissed the breath out of both of them. Cas reacted by grinding their hips together, letting Dean know that Cas was just as excited about these turn of events.

Soon, they were pulling at each other's clothes as they made their way clumsily to the bedroom. They made love with fierce passion until neither of them could stay awake any longer.

 

 

•

 

 

The next morning, Dean woke Cas up with small kisses and wandering hands for another round. After breakfast and a shower that probably took longer than it needed to, they said their farewells at the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Cas said, carefully choosing his words to hopefully calm down Dean's inner monologue. Cas did his best to distract Dean from his thoughts this morning. He did pretty well, if he did say so himself.

"I love you, Cas," he said. Cas pulled Dean in for a tight hug and a small peck on the lips.

"I love you, too," Cas said. And with that, Dean was on his way to the station. Cas closed the door and took a deep breath. He prayed that someone out there was looking out for Dean.

 

The day went on and Cas cleaned the apartment to kill time. He had no idea what he was supposed to wear, so he threw on a pair of black jeans and navy blue shirt with an American flag on the chest. He was borrowing the shirt from Dean, of course. Cas slipped on a pair of black Nikes that looked like Vans. He plopped on the couch and awaited Balthazar's arrival. His blond friend was punctual, at least, and Cas was out of the apartment by five.

"So, where are we going?" Cas asked.

"I have a friend out at King Lake who claims they have an extravagant firework show," Balthazar replied.

"Well, that sounds promising. Will I know anyone there?" Cas questioned.

"Er, probably not. I myself won't know too many people. Just stick by me and we'll have a good time," Balthazar said with a smile. Cas grew a little worried about this. He hated going places where he only knew Balthazar. The blond would always leave him stranded so he could go catch some tail. Cas shrugged and decided to just go with whatever the night threw at him.

When they got to the house, there were easily 50 cars parked in the area. Cas wondered how often this mansion threw parties. The Brit found a parking spot and dragged Cas up to the house. When they stepped inside, Castiel felt like his eardrums were going to burst. He cringed at the volume, but followed Balthazar to the walk out basement.

Cas could tell that this was the center of the party. The place was packed and Castiel assumed there was an open bar somewhere with the stench in the air. The blond guided them through the crowd, stopping once to grab a couple drinks.

The noise was slightly less of a factor when they reached the backyard. There was no shortage of people, though. Kids and adults alike were swimming and playing sand volleyball, just overall enjoying the party. Castiel felt a bit out of place. He'd never been to a lake party this big. He'd never even been to a lake party. Balthazar lead him to a group and started a conversation, grabbing them a couple more drinks. Within an hour, Cas had lost track of the amount of beers and other drinks Balthazar had handed him.

Out of nowhere, a pack of men in summing trunks picked up Castiel and carried him out to the dock. Cas practically shrieked in horror when he realized what was about to happen. The men were shouting and gaining a lot of attention. By the time they had Cas at the end of the dock, everyone outside had stopped what they were doing to find out what was going on. Before Cas could take a breath, he was being thrown into the lake. He sputtered his way to the surface to be greeted by uproarious cheers. The men that threw him in were now jumping in as well. He paddled through the traffic and over to the shore before dragging himself over to Balthazar.

"Where's the bathroom?" He practically growled at his friend.

"Top floor, second door on the left," Balthazar said, managing to look a tad bit empathetic. Castiel sloshed to the aforementioned room, apathetic towards the mess he was making. He pulled his soaked wallet and ruined phone. He needed to replace the cell, and fast.

He reached the bathroom and immediately started to strip his soaked clothing. He wrung out what he could and took the hairdryer to hopefully speed up the drying process. After calling it a lost cause with his shoes, Castiel pulled back on his not-quite-dry clothes and carried his shoes with him.

On his way passed the living room, he noticed the news was on. He couldn't hear anything but he read the news line at the bottom.

 

_Huge fire broke out in a house on 82nd and Main. Fire crews responding._

 

Cas walked into the room his eyes trained on the screen, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. He quickly grabbed the remote and flipped on the subtitles.

" _Breaking news; the roof of the house collapsed, and I'm being told there were a few civilians as well as firemen inside. Waiting further details,"_ the news woman announced.

The world had gone silent to Castiel. On the screen, a helicopter was taking footage of the burning house. He could clearly make out the number 17 on one of the fire engines. That was _Dean's_ truck.

Castiel dropped his shoes and ran out to find Balthazar. He quickly snatched the keys and took off towards the car without explanation.

He raced down to the hospital with an intense fury. He knew Dean was in that house. Cas knew that whenever there were known patrons in a building, Dean was always the first to rush inside. And he knew Dean was going to end up here, at the nearest hospital. He screeched into the parking lot and slammed the car into park. He raced to the front desk and slapped his hands in the table.

"Is there a Dean Winchester here?" He asked impatiently. The receptionist gave him a look and leafed through her papers.

"I'm sorry, sir, but are you related to this Dean Winchester?" She asked.

"I'm his boyfriend," Cas answered.

"Well, I can tell you that he's here, but I can't let you go see him," she said.

"No, you don't understand I have to-"

"I don't care what you _have_ to do. If you want to see him, you're gonna have to wait," she told him sternly.

Cas growled and took a seat in the waiting room. He bounced his leg and nervously chewed his nails. He waited for an entire hour before he was informed of anything.

"Castiel Novak?" A doctor called out. Cas quickly stood and walked over to him.

"Yes? That's me," he confirmed.

"Well, Dean has you put down as one of his emergency contacts, but we couldn't reach you. I take it you found out just as well. Right this way, he's in recovery," the doctor informed him.

"W-what happened Cas asked as he followed to doctor to Dean's room.

"Well, he went in and extracted a little boy from the flames. It's my belief that when he went back in, the roof collapsed on him as well as a few other fire fighters. His lungs are damaged, he has a pretty bad concussion, and a lot of broken bones. He won't be leaving the hospital for some time. Right now he's in a coma, but from what we can tell, he should wake up at any time," the doctor relayed.

Cas was speechless. Dean had not only saved a child, he went back in to save another person. Castiel couldn't love this man anymore if he tried. The doctor opened the door to Dean's room. The only sounds were the steady beep of the heart monitor and and the low hum of the machines. Castiel stood, frozen. He quickly got his bearings and rushed to the side of Dean's bed.

He observed his barely recognizable boyfriend. There were tubes everywhere, bandages were wrapped around his head. His face was covered in bruises. He looked awful. Castiel took his hand and leaned his head on Dean's arm.

"Don't you fucking _dare_ leave me. Or I swear-" Cas whispered before crying too hard to form words.

 

 

•

 

 

After two days of only leaving Dean's side for the bathroom and occasional food, Cas was advised to go home and take care of himself.

"Cas," a friendly nurse said, "why don't you go home and eat a real meal? Maybe shower and catch some sleep, too," she suggested.

"I'm not leaving him," Cas said quietly, but firmly.

"Oh, honey. He's not going anywhere. And do you really think he'd want to wake up to find you sitting there, looking and smelling like a homeless man?" She asked, hands on her hips.

"Missouri, please I don't-"

"Castiel, I promise I will personally contact you if anything changes. Now go clean up, he's not going anywhere," she repeated gently. Cas sighed but reluctantly agreed.

He kissed Dean's bandaged forehead and went back to his apartment. He took the nurse's advise by showering, shaving, eating, and sleeping. He felt a hell of a lot better, if he was being honest.

Now, it was back to hospital to wait for Dean to wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it, a piece set on the 4th of July posted on the 4th of July. By the way, my favorite pitch is the curve ball ;)


	15. Smuggled Fries and Drunken Proclamations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I'd first like to formally apologize for taking so long to update. Life has been very interesting...I can't promise consistent updates, but I promise I'm not giving up on this story!

Something was wrong.

The last thing he remembered was saying goodbye to Cas before he left for work. He didn't know where he was, and his eyes refused to cooperate. Dean panicked. He could faintly hear an annoying beeping sound picking up its pace. He tried to move but he just couldn't.

"Hey, buddy, calm down. You're alright. Dean, I need ya to relax," a fuzzy voice told him.

Dean tried to do as the voice said. He managed to stop panicking.

"Someone go get Cas! Looks like he's comin' 'round!" The gruff voice yelled.

"That's it, brotha. How 'bout ya open them eyes, now?" The voice asked, becoming less fuzzy by the minute. 

Dean focused all of his energy into lifting his eyelids. The first thing he was greeted with was white. His eyes blinked to adjust to the bright lights. 

"There ya go," the voice said again. There was a panicked swoosh that came into the room, followed by another voice. 

"Oh, thank god, Dean. You had me worried sick. That's it, let me see those bright green eyes," the second voice said. 

Slowly, Dean was piecing things together. 

"Cas," he barely whispered. His voice was hard to control. Hell, _everything_ was hard to control.

"Yeah Dean, it's me," Castiel said, grabbing Dean's hand and sitting on the edge of the bed. 

"Wha' happn'd?" Dean slurred, it was abnormally difficult to talk. 

"You were in a building when it collapsed," Cas informed him. 

"Well what was I doin' that for?" Dean joked weakly. 

Cas huffed a surprised laugh as a few tears slipped down his face. He was beyond relieved.

Dean was going to be okay.

 

 

• 

 

 

The tires touched down as the plane landed on the runway. The day had been cloudy, making for great photos from the plane, if you were lucky enough to score a window seat. Once the pilot advised them to do so, the occupants shuffled out of the aircraft and into the lobby. Some were greeted by family and friends, others just made their ways to the exit. A tall man pulled out his cell phone and made a call.

"Yeah, I just landed".

"Was your flight ok?"

"Yeah, pretty uneventful. I'll check in with you when I visit him".

"Ok, be safe! I love you".

"Love you, too," the brunet hung up his phone and made his way out of the airport.

He hailed a cab and gave the driver directions. 

 

 

•

 

 

After Dean had woken up, Cas was there as often as possible. He hated seeing Dean like this, but he knew his boyfriend needed the company and support. When Cas reluctantly had to go to work, Benny took his place. 

Dean's muscles ached, he had a migraine practically every waking moment, it hurt to breathe, he just knew the cut near his eyebrow was going to scar, and he felt so useless.

He never just sat back and watched things happen. It infuriated him more than anything to be confined to his bed. He watched the news most of the day and always felt a pang of guilt when he would see a story about a fire. He should be out there helping, not laid up, unable to do anything.

He vented these feelings to Benny, who had just gotten back to working after breaking his leg.

"Well, brotha' you ain't gonna be much help out there, so ya might as well focus on gettin' healthy," he advised.

"I know, but it just doesn't feel right to sit back and let it happen. This sucks," Dean replied hoarsely.

"Ya know, that's exactly how I felt with my broken leg. But instead of poutin' about it, I focused on gettin' better. Don' worry brotha, you'll be fine in no time," Benny said.  Dean rolled his eyes, but that night, when he was by himself, he thought about what Benny said. He knew that the more he sulked, the longer it would take to heal. He resolved to focus on getting better.

 

 

•

 

 

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom, don't go anywhere," Cas said with a wink. Dean rolled his eyes as his boyfriend left the room. 

Cas walked down the hallway and bumped shoulders with a tall man going the direction in which Castiel had just come from. They both muttered sorry and went on their way. 

Dean sighed and stared out of the window blankly. He was startled when he heard someone clear their throat from the other side of the room. He turned, expecting Cas to greet him. What he found made him do a double take. He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.

"S-Sammy?" He whispered, disbelieving his younger brother was standing in his hospital room. 

"Yeah, Dean. It's me," the young man said with a smile and shining eyes that hid behind overgrown locks of hair. Dean waved him over and hugged him as gently as possible.

"What are you doing here?" Dean asked, his voice still refusing to cooperate fully. Sam sat in the chair next to him. The younger brother cringed slightly at the sound of Dean's voice.

"Well, I got a call that you were in the hospital, so I booked the next flight out. I'm just glad you seem to be doing ok," Sam said. The brothers stared at each other, taking in the other's presence. After what seemed like hours, the door to Dean's room opened.

"You would not believe what-" Cas cut off when he saw the young man sitting in the chair. 

"Hey, Cas," Dean said, his voice rough. "This is my little brother, Sam," he explained. Sam stood up and shook Cas's hand.

"Nice to meet you," Sam said with a charming smile.

"You too," Cas replied, a little thrown off from the surprise introduction. Dean had talked a lot of his little brother, but Cas didn't expect to meet him in a hospital room.

"Sorry if I'm acting weird, I'm a little..." Cas trailed off.

"Thrown off?" Sam supplied. "It's ok, Dean was, too when I showed up," he said. 

"Well, I'm glad to put a face to the name," Cas said with a smile.

"Charlie asked me to rescue her with updates and a smoothie. I'll see you in an hour, Dean," he excused himself, no doubt giving the brothers space. Dean appreciated it, but he felt guilty that Cas had been put on the spot like that. 

"So what the hell happened, man?" Sam asked, taking a seat in the chair once again. "A building kind of fell down on me," Dean whispered. He hated that his voice wouldn't just _work_.

"Kinda of?" Sam asked incredulously. "Jesus, Dean," he said, shaking his head. 

"And who was that Cas guy?" Sam asked.

"Uhh, Cas? We're...dating," Dean whispered, bracing himself for Sam's reaction. Dean had never told Sam of his not-so-straight sexuality. 

" _Really?_ And why didn't you care to tell me that?" Sam asked. 

"Well if you'd pick up the goddamn phone," Dean joked. Sam chuckled as well. Dean was glad, if not a little put off, that his brother appeared to be unfazed. "How's school treating you, anyway?" Dean asked. 

"It's a lot of work. It's nothing I can't handle, though," he said. 

"And how's the social life? You're not being a hermit are you? You know, there's more to college than studying," Dean announced. Sam smiled. 

"The social life is pretty great," Sam said with a soft smile. "I'm not spending all my time in the library," he told him.

"Pretty great, huh? Who is she?" Dean asked with an eyebrow wiggle. Sam blushed a little.

"Her name's Jess," Sam revealed. 

"Aww, Sammy's got a girlfriend," Dean teased. Sam blushed a little, but let it slide that _Dean_ also had a _boyfriend_. 

"So tell me about Stanford. How's California?" Dean asked. "Well, it's crowded all the time. I mean, I was prepared for more people but holy _crap_. I feel like a packaged sardine over there," Sam said, earning a smile from his brother. 

The two men chatted for an hour before Cas returned. The three of them conversed for a few minutes. 

"Are you getting hungry, Sam? I'll treat you to lunch," Castiel offered.

"Uh, yeah, I could eat," Sam replied, standing from his chair. Castiel turned to Dean. 

"I'll try to smuggle in some fries," he said with a wink. Dean smiled widely.

"I love you," he said, beckoning Cas over to the bed. Cas leaned down and gave Dean a kiss on his forehead.

Sam and Cas left the hospital and drove to a local burger joint. They made small talk on the way there. Cas asked of Sam's studies and Sam asked about the work a CEO has to do.

As they talked around their meals, Sam's demeanor became stiff.

"Cas, you seem like a great guy. Forgive me for prying but, I mean...I've never seen Dean showing interest in anyone that wasn't a girl. Now all of the sudden he's gay?" 

Cas stiffened as well. This didn't sound like a speech he wanted to hear. 

"Maybe you just don't know him as well as you thought," Cas suggested lowly, taking a swig of his drink. 

"I know my brother pretty damn well, Cas," Sam said. Cas had to suppress a laugh at that. Obviously, Dean hadn't told him about Noah. 

"Well, Dean and I have been dating for over a month and I know that you didn't know that until _today_ ," Cas snapped. Sam looked a little gobsmacked. 

Castiel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Dean wanted them to get along. It would crush the fireman to have his brother and his boyfriend fighting. "I apologize, Sam. That was out of line," Castiel admitted.

No, you're right," Sam said quietly. "I guess I don't know him as well as I thought," he said, more to himself than anyone else.

After a few minutes of an almost crippling silence, Cas engaged in more small talk to ease the tension. Soon enough, the two were joking with each other. Awkward moment aside, the pair got along quite well. 

" _Why_ were you covered in _glitter_?" Cas asked between his laughter. 

"I told you," Sam said, also cracking up, "I won the damn thing, so they dumped a tub of glitter on me!" He explained.

"All of this because Dean wanted a giant rainbow slinky?" Cas asked. 

" _Yes!_ Dang, how could I not have seen it?" Sam asked, shaking his head. 

"Seen what?" Castiel inquired. 

"That Dean wasn't completely straight!" At that, both of them cracked up once more. When they finished their meals, Sam spoke up again.

"I'm sorry about earlier, Cas. I'm usually not that obtuse. I just felt like I was losing my brother a little bit and I sort of took it out on you. I hope you can forgive me," Sam apologized.

"It's water under the bridge, Sam. I won't hold it against you. Now let's get back to Dean. I believe I promised him fries," Cas said. 

And on that note, they returned to the hospital. Cas had succeeded in smuggling in some fries for Dean. To say the fireman was overjoyed was a gross understatement. 

After another hour, Castiel had to excuse himself to a meeting with Balthazar. He hadn't spoken to his British friend since the Fourth of July. Cas promised to come visit Dean the next day.

When the brothers were alone, Dean turned to Sam and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Sooo...how was lunch?" Dean asked.

"It went well. Cas is a really great guy, Dean. I already like him better than the girls you brought home in high school," Sam teased. 

"Hey, I was just trying to get laid back then," Dean joked. "This is different," he said quietly.

"How so?" Sam asked, testing his limits. Dean seemed to ponder the question. 

"I don't know. Back then, I knew the relationships wouldn't last, but this one..." Dean trailed off. Sam nodded in understanding. He was glad to see Dean had grown up. He was worried Dean might never find someone to settle down with. 

When visiting hours were over, the brothers said goodbye and Sam left the hospital. He checked into a hotel and called Jess to fill her in. He assured her that he would be home late tomorrow. He could only miss so much of school, and Dean seemed to be recovering well. 

 

 

• 

 

 

"So, Cassie, how's Dean holding up?" Balthazar asked. He sat down on an armchair and Castiel sunk into the couch. 

"He's doing well...as possible as one could in his situation," Cas said.

"That's great news! How long until he's back at home?" The Brit asked. 

"The Doctor said he should be able to return home in three days," Cas answered. He was excited to have Dean back at home.

"Wonderful! Now, how about a drink?" Balthazar offered. Castiel accepted and the went over to the minibar. The blond started out mixing drinks, but switched over to shots. On a normal day, Castiel would've chastised his friend for suggesting they consume so many shots, but for some reason, Cas felt like getting smashed.

An hour and who knows how many shots later, the friends were spectacularly drunk. Castiel was giggling while laying on the couch, Balthazar was in a similar state on the floor. 

"I love 'im," Cas proclaimed, pointing his finger straight in the air. On its way back down, he smacked himself in the face. "And...and I really don't know why. No...no that came out wrong," Castiel burped and continued. "I mean...I know _why_ I love him...he the fucking best, he's hot and funny and handsome and charming and sexy. With is beautiful eyes and perfect hair and toned body and....what was I saying?"

"You love him," the blond replied. 

"Yeah! It's like...I never loved nobody like this...this is _new_. He's the one, Balthzerrr, he's _it_ ," Castiel declared. 

"Y'know wha? I...I should p-prob'ly head home," Castiel slurred. He tried to sit up but flopped back on the couch. He erupted in a fit of giggles once again. 

"I...I don' think you can!" Balthazar teased, unleashing a belch. "I'm drunk," he added. 

After not receiving an answer, the Brit, with great difficulty, raised his head to look at his friend. 

Castiel was already passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it...chapter 15! Thank you so much for sticking with this story!


	16. Princess Peach

A week later, and Dean was settled in at home. He had the joy of wearing a cast running past his elbow on his right arm, and a boot for his fractured leg on the left. He currently sat on the couch, leg propped up on the coffee table. He had roped Cas into playing Mario Kart with him.

"Oh, did you see that?! Ha! Classic!" Dean bellowed after having struck Cas with a red shell, causing poor Toad to spin out and Princess Peach quickly took the lead. "Cheap shot," Cas rebutted. He playfully bumped Dean's shoulder and scrambled to catch up.

"All is fair man, all is fair," Dean said as he rounded a corner and approached the finish line.

"Funny you say that," Cas said ominously. Dean took his eyes off the screen to peer at Cas questioningly. "What's that supposed to mean?" Dean asked as he returned his eyes to the screen. At that moment, all Dean could see was a flash of blue.

"Son of a BITCH!" Dean yelled as Peach spun out from the blast on the blue shell. Cas swiftly took back the lead and crossed the finish line, setting his controller on the coffee table and leaning back, resting his hands behind his head.

"You little shit," Dean said, setting his own controller down after finishing 5th thanks to the untimely attack.

"Hey, all is fair," Cas quoted with a shit eating grin.

"Don't quote me to me," Dean whined. Cas grinned and placed a kiss to Dean's forehead.

"Your skills are admirable, but I gotta ask...Princess Peach?" Cas raised an inquisitive eyebrow and smirked.

"Hey, Peach is a very strategic character. Don't dis her," Dean warned, pointing a finger at his boyfriend. Cas raised his hands in defense and laughed. Cas stood up and stretched his arms above his head, causing his shirt to ride up. Dean drank in the slight and subconsciously licked his lips. Cas took a step in the direction of the kitchen but Dean's hand shot out and grabbed Cas's wrist.

"Hey, you're not going anywhere, Toad. I demand a rematch!" Dean declared.

"I'm sorry, but Princess Peach is gonna have to wait until after dinner," Cas reasoned.

"How 'bout we bet on it?" Dean asked with a glint in his eyes.

"And what do you suppose should be the wager?" Cas asked, obviously amused at Dean's proposition. Dean wiggled his eyebrows and shot a wink at Cas.

"Dean you cannot be suggesting what I think you are. You just gt home from the hospital!" Cas said.

"That was four days ago. Four loooong days," Dean complained. Cas rolled his eyes and returned to his spot on the couch. He grabbed his controller and gave a disapproving look at Dean.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Cas said. Dean grinned and picked up his own controller. He picked a random map and waited for the game to load.

The TV screen showed a beauty shot of Rainbow Road before splitting the screen and counting down the start of the race. Both men behind the controllers prepared themselves for an intense game.

 

3

 

2

 

1

 

BANG

 

The digitized characters launched out of the gate at traveled at alarming speeds on top of the precarious multicolored road. Cas never understood why Rainbow Road was in outer space, but when in Rome...he had a race to win. He could see Princess Peach slightly ahead of him at the front of the pack. When he crashed into an item cube, he waited in anticipation until it was revealed what his power up was. Three measly bananas. He quickly deposited them on the road, tripping up a few characters who were following a little too close.

Dean smirked as he shot out of the opening gate. He timed his power up perfectly, and he was now in front of the pack. He grinned as he received a random item. Three green shells. He could work with that. Wario tried passing him, but with an armored nudge, Peach had Wario spinning out and falling off the edge. He was able to maintain his lead as he finished his first lap.

Cas kept his sights on Peach's pink motorcycle. He was able to dart ahead to second place in no time. As he approached his second lap, he was blindsided by a red shell. He groaned in frustration as he watched Toad fall off the edge. When he was replaced on the map, he had dropped down to 7th place! He needed a miracle. The next item cube he crashed into gave him just that. He smirked as he used his power up, turning his character into a speeding bullet, taking out characters left and right. To Cas's satisfaction, Bowser just so happened to be one of those characters. At the end of the bullet' run, he had managed to make up a lot of lost ground. He returned to second place.

Dean's smile only grew wider as he looked at the character map. He was going to maintain this lead if it killed him. He saw Cas trailing behind him, and anticipated any power ups Cas might have gotten. He himself received one banana. Being in first had a few downsides.

Cas crept closer and closer, saving his power up for the right moment. He saw his chance to use it just before a sharp turn. He launched his green shell forward, praying that it would do its job. Dean's shriek and loud objection sent a wave of pride through Cas. He quickly passed Dean and headed to thier final lap.

A goddamn green shell. He couldn't dodge a green shell. What was this? Amateur hour? He shook his head and rushed to catch up to Cas. A blue streak flew across the sky and Dean gave a knowing smirk.

"No, no, no, no, no, _no_ , NO!" Cas yelled from his position on the couch. Of course, right as he took the lead, someone had to blue shell his ass. Dean chuckled beside him and Cas shook his head. Half way through their final lap, Cas had managed to make it a close race again. As he broke his last item cube a prayed for a useful power up. He was given a single green shell. He needed to make the most of that little sucker. He lined himself up and focused on the princess in front of him. He hesitated, but pulled the trigger nonetheless.

Dean sped past Cas and took back his first place standing. He prayed that that was the only blue shell that would appear in this game. As he rapidly approached the finish line, he knew Cas was saving his power up. Dean cringed as his controller alerted him of an upcoming green shell. It passed him without incident and fell off the edge of the road.

"Ha! You missed!" Dean teased as he crossed the finish line, throwing his hands up in victory. Cas crossed shortly thereafter and returned his controller to the coffee table.

Cas glanced at Dean with a playful look in his eyes. He stood up and shot out his hand for Dean to grab. With great effort, Dean managed to stand up and throw his good arm around Cas's shoulders.

They slowly made their way to the bedroom, where Cas deposited Dean and returned to the living room to shut off the game console. When Cas returned, Dean smiled and wiggled his eyebrows one again. Cas rolled his eyes, but made his way to the bed nonetheless.

He crawled up and placed a fiery kiss upon Dean's lips. He could feel the injured man's lips turn up in a smile against his own. Cas moved his hand to cradle Dean's head, and he deepened the kiss, moving his legs to straddle Dean. The fireman moaned when their hips met, revealing both men were quite excited.

Cas started to trail his kisses down Dean's neck, stopping briefly to remove Dean from his shirt. With the clothing tossed aside, Cas continued his ministrations, attaching his lips to Dean's collar bone. Dean ran the hand that wasn't trapped in a cast through Cas's hair. He tugged lightly and earned a moan from Cas.

"You like that baby? Like it when I pull your hair?" Dean asked breathlessly, pulling again to drag Cas back into a kiss. Cas nodded and pulled back to look at Dean.

The fireman was beautiful like his; his flushed cheeks, his dilated eyes. Cas peered into Dean's eyes and found nothing but adoration and love. He smiled to himself before dipping down and trailing kisses along Dean's torso. After a few minutes of teasing, Cas removed Dean’s sweatpants, revealing that Dean was, in fact, not wearing any underwear.

“Did you plan this?” Cas asked bemusedly before he started nipping at Dean’s hipbones.

“Call it wishful thinking,” Dean replied breathlessly. Cas licked a long stripe up the underside of Dean’s cock, causing the taller man to moan in pleasure. The dark haired man swallowed Dean down without warning and set a relentless pace, using his hand to cover what his mouth couldn’t reach.

“Holy shit, baby, you’re amazing,” Dean praised. He kept rambling sweet nothings until he was too incoherent to speak. Then sensations built and built until it all came crashing down in a wonderful crescendo. Dean spilled into Cas’s mouth with a shout and a sharp tug at his hair. Cas trailed kissed back up Dean’s torso before placing a sloppy kiss to the fireman’s mouth.

“Good thing I let you win, huh?” Cas whispered before removing himself from the bed.

“Let me? Yeah right,” Dean said as he watched Cas mosey into the bathroom.

“Do you think I’d really miss that easy of a shot?” Cas called back. Dean could hear him turning on the shower.

“Whatever, I still won,” Dean muttered to himself.

“I heard that!” Cas shouted back.

 

•

 

Cas had gone back to work, and Dean was a little more independent. Things were starting to go back to normal. With Cas back at work and Dean stuck at home, there was a lot of free time for Dean to get bored. The fireman filled his free time with video games, Netflix, and texting Cas.

 

_To: Cas 11:15a.m._

_Whatcha dooooin?_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 11:19a.m._

_working_

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 11:22a.m._

_I’m bored_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 11:34a.m._

_Entertain yourself_

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 11:35a.m._

_But I want you to entertain me_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 11:46a.m._

_I’m a little busy_

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 11:48a.m._

_Too busy for me? :(_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 11:52a.m._

_I’m busy because of you_

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 11:59a.m._

_What’s that supposed to mean?_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 12:07p.m._

_Nothing :)_

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 12:11p.m._

_Oh, you’re just making fun of me arent you? Sure, a building falls on you and now your boyfriend accuses you of being a free loader_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

The text was sent with an image of a pouting Dean, holding up his middle finger on the hand with the cast.

 

_To: Sexy Fireman 12:20p.m._

_I didn’t say anyting about free loading, but if the shoe fits…_

_From: Cas_

 

_To: Cas 12:22p.m._

_:o_

_From: Sexy Fireman_

 

Cas chuckled at his screen and continued his work. Medical bills sure didn’t pay themselves.

 

•

 

The two men cuddled on the couch as they watched yet another episode of New Girl.

Dean seemed to be recovering well, complaining less and less about the god awful casts each day. As the fireman nodded off while leaning his head on Cas’s shoulder, Cas couldn’t help but think that there was no place he’d rather be.

He let his eyes drift shut and he fell asleep next to his boyfriend, letting the sounds of the comedy on screen be the last sounds he heard before joining Dean in a nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news: I haven't given up on this piece, I'm just very, very slow on the whole "writing" process
> 
> More good news: the reason I haven't been paying much tribute to this piece is because I've started a high school AU. (there are so many different things in my drafts, it's crazy) but I promise, for those of you who will stick with me that:   
> a) I know how this current piece will end, so just ride it out  
> and b) when I do post that hs au, it will have a consistent posting rate (if you can believe me)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, I believe things are coming to a close
> 
> p.s.  
> Merry Christmas!


	17. In The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you have it ladies, gentlemen, and those who have yet to make up their mind: the final chapter. Thank you to everyone who stuck with me as I wrote this! (and sorry again for the very infrequent updates)

_Two Years Later_

 

It was Monday in every sense of the word. Dean woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He fumbled around blindly until he found that awful alarm clock. He slammed the snooze button and dragged himself out of bed. Oh how he wished he could burrow back under the covers and continue his blissful unconsciousness.

On his way to the bathroom, while trying to get the eye boogers out of his tear ducts, he rather ungracefully ran into the dresser.

“Are you drunk?” A playful voice quipped from the bed.

“No. The dresser attacked me,” Dean shot back, looking at Cas through his eyelashes.

“Well, as the good Samaritan I am, I can’t jeopardize the public by letting an intoxicated fireman go to work,” Cas said cheekily, winking saucily before motioning Dean towards him.

“Well, I guess christening the new house ought to sober me up,” Dean suggested as Cas slipped into his embrace.

"Hmm, let’s find out.”

 

So, maybe it wasn’t such a Monday after all.

 

Dean strutted into work that morning with a smile on his face and pep in his step.

“Nice of you to finally show up, Winchester,” Jo teased.

“Hey, I’m here, aren’t I?” Dean asked as he threw himself on the couch, legs crossed with his arms behind his head.

“What’s gotten you so peppy? Dean Winchester is never peppy on a Monday morning,” Jo observed.

“Let’s just say I had a very good cup of coffee,” He said, closing his eyes and grinning wide, imagining said _coffee_.

“I don’t even wanna know,” Jo said, dismissively waving her hand in the air.

“Dean-o! Get some action this morning?” Gabe asked with a wink, striding over to the couch.

“Ha! Wouldn’t you like to know,” Dean replied, opening his eyes and fist bumping Gabriel as he took a seat on the couch.

“It wasn’t a question,” Gabe deadpanned. Dean laughed and stood up.

“Is Charlie still here? I need to ask her a question,” Dean stated before heading off to find her.

 

===+===

 

“C'mon Cas! It’s been forever since we went out. I haven’t seen you in _forever_. I know you waaant toooo!” Charlie sing-songed, pouting out her bottom lip as she took a seat on the corner of Cas’s desk.

“Charlie, it’s Tuesday and I have work tomorrow,” Cas said, typing out an email.

“So? We don’t have to stay late. Just some dinner and a couple of drinks. I’ll have you home by ten at the latest,” Charlie pleaded. Cas sighed as he sent the email and closed his laptop.

“Fine. Where would you like to go?” Charlie grinned wide and hugged Cas.

“I’ll pick you up six!” She said, gathering her things before skipping out of Cas’s office.

 

===+===

 

(Mostly) true to her word, Charlie picked Cas up at 6:15.

“I thought you said you were going to pick me up at six,” Cas said as he slipped into the passenger seat of Charlie’s yellow slug bug.

“It’s only a quarter past six!” Charlie reasoned.

“I’m fashionably late,” she said with a smile before putting the car in gear and heading downtown. Their first stop was an old school arcade.

“Video games?” Cas asked skeptically as they stepped out of the car.

“What, are you afraid I’m gonna ruin your night by kicking your ass at pack-man?” Charlie teased.

“You wish you were as good as me at pack-man,” Cas replied under his breath.

 

An hour later proved that the two were an even match. With their spirits –and their wallets – a little lighter, they went to the local bar for some dinner and a round of drinks. Long after their meals had been consumed, the pair still hogged the booth, catching up on the past few months.

“So how are you guys liking the new house?” Charlie asked.

“Oh, I love it so much. It definitely beats running between two apartments all the time. You wouldn’t believe how easily the parts of a suit can get separated. I’m lucky I’m not held to a specific schedule or I’d have been fired for how often I show up late,” Cas told Charlie. His and Dean’s house was a beautiful American Craftsman house that had been a bit of a fixer-upper. Cas would’ve been perfectly happy using his money to buy a recently updated, move-in ready home, but Dean was insistent on buying something that needed a bit more work. Cas relented and they agreed upon their two-story home. Dean started right away on remodeling.

Cas had to admit, coming home to an incomplete house proved a little frustrating, especially when he could’ve purchased a fully furnished home. But once Dean was finished with his home-improvements, Cas had to admit that he found the personal additions touching (especially their en suite with a Jacuzzi tub and a double-headed shower. That’s right...a shower with _two heads!_ ).

Cas and Charlie sat at the booth for another hour, discussing everything from Charlie’s new girlfriend to Cas’s appreciation for the stain stick (and ok, TMI if you asked Charlie, but she enjoyed Cas’s rave reviews all the same).

Castiel and Charlie returned to Cas and Dean’s home after their night out on the town. With things getting busy at the office, and Dean gone every other day, Cas really needed that day off. He was unlocking the front door when Charlie pointed out a note stuck to it. He grabbed it off the door and read it aloud.

 

_Cas_

_I love you so much. I know you’ve been busy with work lately and I’ve made myself scarce around the house, but hopefully we can sweep our stress under the rug. _

_Dean_

 

Cas smiled and shook his head. He knew exactly where the next note would be.

“Aww, Cas, that is so cute!” Charlie squealed. He rolled his eyes and opened the front door. What he didn’t notice was Charlie switching to the camera app on her phone. He hung Charlie and his jackets up in the closet. On the broom handle was another note.

 

_Cas_

_Every day I fall for you more and more. I can’t put into words what you mean to me. I just pray that my feelings are reflected in you. _

_Dean_

 

Alright, so yeah, Cas remembered exactly where Dean got this little trick. But, Dean didn’t do anything wrong, why did he feel he needed to communicate in little notes? Cas handed to note to Charlie for her to read, since he knew she’d bug him about it if he didn’t. Cas put the bad thought about Dean aside and went to the bathroom. Charlie followed, too, never the one to miss any surprises. Sure enough, there was a note taped to the mirror.

 

_Cas_

_You are the most gorgeous person I’ve ever met. Inside and out, everything about you makes my heart skip a beat. Your unruly hair, your infectious smile, and especially your unmatched compassion. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look up._

 

And as cheesy as Cas knew this was, he still looked up. He smiled at his reflection and looked back down at the note. His cheeks turned a little red when he remembered Charlie was standing right behind him.

 

_That worked right? (it sure as hell worked on me when you did this) Because if it did, then I’m a little sad that I didn’t get to witness your amazing smile. I’m so thankful that you’ve been there to dress my wounds. I know it’s not easy dating a fireman, but I promise that I’ll always be extra careful. _

_Dean_

 

Cas smiled and felt his eyes water just a tiny bit. He remembered vividly when he left notes around for Dean. Except then, he was apologizing. Cas started to wonder if Dean was apologizing for something in advance. With a small forming pit in his stomach, Cas moved into the bedroom, not even checking to see if Charlie was following him. He strode over to the dresser and collected the note resting atop it.

 

_Cas_

_For as long as I’ve worked at the fire station, Rufus has made me do all of his errands. I used to hate it with every fiber of my being but the one time he told me to pick up his groceries changed my life in the best way. I met you and I still can’t believe my luck. I know it’s been a little difficult over the past few years, but I’m never going to stop loving you. You’re my whole world, Cas, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. _

_Dean_

 

By now, Cas had let a few tears slip down his cheek. He huffed a small laugh behind the hand that had placed itself over his mouth. He took a deep breath and reread the note several times. He looked up at Charlie with questioning eyes. He wondered if she knew about any of this.

Soon enough, though, he journeyed to the kitchen to read the next note. The slip of paper he expected wasn’t on the counter. It wasn’t hiding in the cabinets, nor was it resting near the sink. As a last hope, he opened the fridge. He laughed out loud at the contents in the fridge.

There had to be at least 10 bottles of apple juice on the shelves. Cas moved the juice around until he found what he was looking for.

 

_Cas_

_;) Apple juice will always hold a special place in my heart. I never particularly liked the stuff before I met you. Now, I’d drink it every day and never get tired of the taste. Now, I bet you’re wondering why I’ve been leaving these notes around. Knock on the front door if you want to find out._

_Dean_

 

Cas stared blankly at the note. _“If he wanted to find out”_ , why did that seem so ominous to him? Maybe Cas didn’t want to find out. I mean, what would happen if he didn’t go to the door? Cas took a deep breath and told himself to calm down. Nothing was wrong.

At least…he hoped nothing was.

“Are you gonna just stand there, or are you gonna look for the next note?” Charlie asked.

Cas carefully made his way to the front door. He closed his eyes and inhaled fully. He pictured Dean’s smile, and his eyes, and the way he scrunched his eyebrows when Cas would wake him up. A feeling of serenity washed over Cas, but as soon as he opened his eyes to the dark brown wood of the front door, the feeling vanished. Instead, it was replaced with excitement, not worry.

Cas slowly raised his fist and knocked once, twice, three times.

“Who is it?” Filtered a (barely) falsetto voice through the door. Cas swung open the door to reveal Dean.

In a tux.

“I’d ask the same question,” Cas said, admiring his boyfriend in the sharp suit.

“So, uh, you got my notes?” Dean asked, a little nervous. He flicked his eyes to Charlie’s. She gave him a reassuring nod and a quick thumbs up.

“Yes I did,” Cas said, taking two steps onto the porch to plant a passionate kiss on Dean’s lips.

“Well, then I guess I should get to it,” Dean gave a small smile and took Cas’s hands.

“I love you. With every cell in my body and every thought in my head, I love you,” Dean said, staring straight into Cas’s eyes. “From the time I picked up that box of condoms in the parking lot to now, I’ve always loved you,” He said, smiling despite the shaking in his voice.  Cas gave a watery smile and squeezed Dean’s hand. “I never want to let you go, which is why,” Dean let go of one of Cas’s hands and fished around in his pocket. He slowly got down on one knee and looked up at Cas.

The blue eyed man was utterly speechless. Tears were forming in his eyes and Dean could tell he’d made the right decision. He pulled the small box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal a shiny silver band.

“Castiel Anaximander Novak,” Dean started smiling at the laugh Cas gave at his own middle name, “will you let me make you alcoholic glasses of apple juice for the rest of our lives?” Dean asked, barely able to keep his voice steady.

All Cas could manage was a fervent nod, quickly pulling Dean into a fierce hug before pulling back slightly and kissing his _fiancé_ on the mouth. When he broke the kiss, Cas laughed.

“Yes, yes, a million times, yes!” He replied. The men stood there on the porch, just staring at each other for what seemed like hours, but were really only a few seconds.

“This video is going viral!” Charlie said, wiping a stray tear from her face. The men both turned to her and laughed. Cas kept his hand laced with Dean’s as he gave Charlie a one armed hug.

“Did you know the entire time?” Cas asked.

“Don’t ask stupid questions,” Charlie answered.

 

In the end, Dean never had to fight his way into Castiel’s heart. He was welcomed with open arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this piece as much as I enjoyed writing it. Be on the look out for my high school au that's in the works. Follow me on tumblr (satansass666)


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